Sold a Broken Watch!

<p>I went to the Truworths store at the Liberty Promenade yesterday to purchase a watch. After the horrible customer service I received from the sales assistant, I nonetheless purchased the watch which was never shown to me but rushed over to the pay desk so that I could pay and leave the store. When I got home, I noticed how dirty the watch box was that they had thrown the watch in as there was no protective foam to keep it from moving and potentially getting scratched or broken. It was literally thrown into the old Daniel Klein box, not only that but the watch was not working at all! I paid R995 for a broken watch. Today, I went back to the store to ask for an exchange as the watch was obviously faulty. I walk up to the pay desk as they have no customer service department/returns and request to speak to the manager. After explaining my query to the manager, Tanya. The manager casually says that the problem with the watch must be the battery and as they do not have any more of that particular watch, I have to walk out of Truworths to a third party battery repair shop, pay for a new battery and battery change then go back to Truworths for them to refund me the R20 that Tanya said it will cost. I went to the repair shop only to be told that they cannot change the battery, the watch has to be taken to a jeweller by Truworths. I went back to Truworths, relayed the information given to me by the repair shop Tanya sent me to and proceeded to ask for a refund as Truworths Promenade was obviously not taking any responsibility for selling me a watch that does not work and I was already late for work taking time going to the store to get the matter resolved. After asking for the refund, she then had the audacity to tell me to go back to the end of the queue as she has other customers to help. I asked her if that was their procedure for dealing woth retirns of faulty goods and she said yes, she will not help me until I go and stand back in the queue after I had been standing at the pay desk explaining my query to her, went to a shop she sent me to and came back with no help. Merely asking for my money back after they sold me a faulty watch, which was supposed to be a birthday gift has now turned into a major inconvenience and complete headache! No sense of responsibility by the staff or empathy at all. Tanya kept mentioning I have 14 days to return the watch as if it was just an exchange and she also made it clear that she did not want to assist on sorting the issue out for me as it may take up to a month. I am extremely angry because I was sent up and down by a person who is supposed to be the most educated regarding consumer rights at that store bit here I am still stuck with a broken brand new watch from Truworths and no birthday gift to present!</p>