Late estate debt settlement

Woolworths financial services DO NOT put their clients first. I'm disappointed and disgusted. My mother loved Woolworths, not only for the products they offered but for their customer service. Those days are gone.

My mom passed away 2019. I asked Woolworths for a discount on the balance she owed. The first response was a 'no' and after submitting a Hello Peter review, they accommodated me but only to a point. A discount but the balance had to be paid end September. The settlement amount was only communicated to me around the 11/12 September. So in just over 2 weeks Woolworths thought it was reasonable to think that I could pay just under R40K to settle her debt.

This debt my mom left behind needs to be settled. She wasn't able to leave anything behind besides a car. As a family we feel it is important to settle her debt for her. Woolies then extended it to end October. As a mom of two and I need to look after my family as well. When they offered end of October, I thought I might be able to make payment but circumstances have changed.

I've gone back to Woolies and asked for an extension or possibility of paying over a few months. It was a NO, the full amount would need to be settled if I don't pay up by end October.

I realise after talking to the legal department at my work that I am not liable to pay the debt, however, since my mom can't, I believe I'm doing the right thing. In essence, Woolies is choosing no payment since they cant accommodate a new time frame. Does that really make sense?!

Woolies also needs to remember that they offered credit to a housewife years ago. My mom has always been a housewife. In the beginning I was of the opinion that the debt should have been written off. Clearly this was a case of reckless lending. And how did they not make credit life compulsory for a housewife?

But regardless of this I want to honour my mom by settling her debt and have therefore asked for the discount and payment extension. Why isn't this possible for such a well known business.