First time Hi-Q horrible experience! Kya Sands need to better their customer service.

I just had the most horrible experience ever at a Hi-Q store!! I could give a zero star if there was one.

Firstly they didn't have the run-flat tyre that i needed for my car and instead of informing me first that they don't have it on stock, and having the courtesy to ask if I'm fine with them quickly getting it from another store, they didn't. I only learnt this later when i was just waiting and noticed no work being done on my car only then they tell me that someone has quickly went to fetch it from Fourways branch. (its about 25 minutes drive return between the two branches on a free flowing traffic, excluding the time spent fetching the tyre from the store, and extra few mins of afternoon traffic in this case)

I'm with my 5 year old son who is in the autism spectrum and is hyperactive. it's really difficult to keep him waiting and get him to be still for a long time. i had to give him the phone to try get him to keep him busy and 'behave'.

Then series of Murphy's Law events followed after the work was done. firstly i needed to do a transfer from one account to the other. after i did, it turned out i forgot my bank card at home, which i was going to swipe with to pay. We agreed that i will do the EFT and send the POP. Next phone battery died and i charge it there. Then there were network connectivity issues.

At that time my son is going up and down, i still need to mind him so he doesn't break anything or run out of the store. It's supper frustrating. Eventually as I'm trying to do the payment, i ask that i rather go because my son was screaming and very distractive and there was a customer in store.

In my mind, because i had no intentions whatsoever of not paying my bill, I'm thinking I'll do this when i get home. I've been there for like forever with the child who is unsettled, i am frustrated and also upset because of the waiting. I get in the car ordinarily and drive off. Next as I'm about to join in the road, their sales person (Desmond) pulls his car next to me, blocking me and asking me why am i leaving without paying. so i tell him i thought he saw my son being distractive, i couldn't do payment there as it was taking long and thought i will do it when i get home. He says he thought i was going to go in the car and do the payment there (next thing i drive off). Clearly, i tell him, this is a misunderstanding. There was no way i would run and not pay the bill. I tell him at then time i left, i was just thinking of just getting my son home, and would do it as soon as I'm home. I have been an Hi-Q customer for years now and they have my car registration number. where the hell could i hide after not paying???

So i drove back to where the store is and Murphy's Law continued. I park the car and sit there, charging the phone (because it didn't charge for long earlier and was on 1% or 2%) and start making the payment. For some odd reasons, whenever i get the pop-up screen to approve the payment so it can be processed I'd press to approve it (Nedbank app), but nothing happens afterwards. I tried this several times. Eventually thought the problem could be my connection. I go in the store ask for their wi-fi details so i can rather do internet banking and not use the mobile app. Battery dies, i charge the phone, make mistake with payment amount, need to redo it. need to be extra careful with the account number.

My son is now supper busy. At this point I'm super upset and close to tears. i try holding him, he wriggled himself off me. I grab my son harshly to try make sit still, so i can do this and we go home (taking this out on the innocent child).

Eventually i made a payment and sent the POP to my email, so i could forward it to theirs. I wanted to be sure the POP came through, by sending it to my email. The POP didn't come through to my inbox. i checked the spam box and it wasn't there either. i then went back into the payment i made and send the POP to their email address. i told the guy that I've done the payment and left. He was busy with someone in the office and i assumed he heard me. i could not stay any longer. anyone reading this and knowing even a bit about ASD and ADHD would understand.

I just needed to get home. i needed to cry and to be calm. a couple of minutes as I'm tried to settle down at home i get a call from this Desmond guy, that he is opening a case against me because i left without paying. I try to tell him that i did say that i sent the POP before i left and thought he heard and that i REALLY needed to leave the store at that time. He didn't want to listen to me and I told him by all means he can go open the case. After few minutes, i decided to call him and inform him that i have actually made the payment i also didn't get the POP on my email, but i can send him the screenshot of the SMS showing the payment went through. i asked for his number so i send the screen shot. couldn't pick up his number on WhatsApp, so i sent the text and I'm not sure if he got the picture or not.

I guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow to be stopped by police at a road block like he said. I have had a pleasant experiences at other HI-Qs (particularly Fourways) and kept going back. This one is closest to my home and i don't see myself going there ever. They need to put people who are more professional and who knows how to talk to customers on their front-line. This is a case of miscommunication. 1) not being upfront that they didn't have stock and check if i could wait, but no they were just eager to get business and did not consider to ask me. I probably would not have waited, and would ask they put my bad tyre back. 2) The guy could have simply told me to go do the transaction in the car when i left the store, and told me that the payment need to be completed before i leave so i also understand this upfront. I thought he understood the situation with my screaming son and that was ok to let me go do this at home, but no immediately assumed that i was running. His attitude just nasty!