Unfair Business Practice by Castelo

On the 30th of November, I ordered shoes on the Castelo Exclusive Fashion website; and because I needed the shoes urgently, I opted to collect them, at the Melrose Arch branch. At no point on the website is it stated that the shoes that are being sold may not be found in any store. I then called on the 1st of December, early in the morning, to confirm that I will be collecting the pair of shoes. The lady on the other side of the line only then mentioned that the shoes aren't guaranteed to be at the store, as they may either be at the warehouse or in CPT. She then asked that I give her about 15 minutes so that she can check.

The lady did not call. After close to 2 hours, I called the store back, for four times without any answer. On my fifth attempt, only then did someone answer. It was then that I was told that the shoe is in fact in CPT. Can it be known that I was in the Johannesburg area at the time these calls were being made. It was only after this call that I had to make plan b, and this meant purchasing an available pair at another store, and then drove home to the Vaal.

It was only after 5pm that I got a text from one of the ladies who work at the store to say the shoe is in the store. This can only mean that the shoe was always there, but the lady did not care to check thoroughly. This can be deduced by how uncertain she was with the questions I was asking pertaining to the shoe and the store itself (with lots of chit chatting in the background - story for another day).

With a new pair of shoes bought, and me being in the Vaal already, I do not think that it is reasonable for the store to expect me to keep the shoes. At the heart of this, is the fact that the store staff were ***********, and gave false information about the shoe. Essentially, the store returns policy is there to ***** customers over, even when the problem is caused by their own staff members. I had not budgeted for two pairs of shoes. And it goes without saying that their shoes are not cheap.