I'm disgusted

My brother whom I don't live with made a mistake of buying me a pair of shoes as a gift from Truworths. The reason that I say it's a mistake is that he should have chosen any other store but Truworths because their service is appalling.

The shoes were bought in January and I only received them in March when I went home at the beginning of the lockdown. When I fitted the shoes, they were a size small. At the start of level 4 when shops were allowed to operate, we went to the Mamelodi Deneboom branch to exchange the pair for a fitting size, only to be told that they can't assist us because of their 30 days exchange policy even though they had my size in stock. Mind you, this is the branch where the shoes were bought.

I decided to phone their complaints department to report the matter. What a waste of my energy, time and airtime. They are exactly that..."The Complaints Department". They listen to your complaint and nothing is done about it. There's no empathy or willingness to help.

On my first contact, I was given a reference number and I was told that they will phone me back within 48 hours. How can you phone me back if you don't even ask for my contact details. That's a sign that my problem won't get resolved. I had to ask the person whether they are not going to need my contact number to phone me. It's only then that she requested for my number. As I had guessed, no one phoned me.

I don't know why I was given a reference number because when I phoned them for the second time to follow up, nothing could be found on the reference given. I had to explain myself again, and yet again, I was promised that someone will phone me back. At least the person on the other side of the line was a better lier than the first person I spoke to because she took my contact details without me asking. I had to phone them again after a week because of no feedback.

The third time when I phoned, I requested to speak to a manager. Zahier Abdurrahman is the name. You know that a company doesn't care when a whole manager doesn't give you feedback as well. Mr Abdurrahman promised to escalate my complain after I had to explain myself for the third time even though I was given a reference number. Why give me a reference number if nothing was captured under that reference? Truworths are idiots. This Zahier person is a manager by title only, not by actions. He himself failed to revert to me after promising that he will phone me back.

When I phoned in for the fifth time after I was told on the fourth call that nothing has been done after I was given a reference number on my first call, I requested to speak to the mighty Zahier who I had to remind what my complain was about even after giving him my reference number. He apologized "sincerely" and yet again promised to send me an email before close of business on that day. Did he send it? You bet he didn't. He rep**** the following day only to tell me that I can't be assisted.

Truworths, please tell me what the hell am I supposed to do with shoes that don't fit? I'm not looking for a refund or a voucher, I just want to exchange for a size that fits. Is that too much to ask? Do you think what you are doing is fair? Is this the thank you we get for supporting your business for all these years? I have your brand new pair of shoes in a box which have never been worn.

I went to your branch to get help and I was not assisted because you don't care. I phoned your complaints line with my dissatisfaction and I was not assisted because you don't give a damn. I'm sure the person dealing with your hellopeter complaints is just like Zahier and all the other people at Truworths that I dealt with. I'm positive that s/he will ignore my post because I'm just a number. I'm just a drop in an ocean of a million customers you have. You don't care to lose just one customer, so why reply? I bet that's your thinking. You are too big to reply right?

Go on, Ignore my post. I always get satisfaction after approaching the Ombudsman.