SK
Selone K
Active since Oct 2016
3
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3 reviews11 months ago
DISRESPECTFUL AND CHEEKY ECOUNTER WITH WOOLWORTHS COUNTRY ROAD MANAGER (KHAYALETHU) AT V & A WATERFRONT
On the 31st of April, I visited Woolworths (Country Road) with the intent of exchanging a Country Road brand Trench coat for other items, as this trench coat was bought and received at this specific Country Road store. The trench coat item was a present for my eldest daughter's birthday, which was gifted to her by my cousin. Therefore, I had no till slip to present at the till and only wanted to swap it for another item. The size had been small for her, and we ended up getting her another trench coat that was her size at the Zara store instead. I wanted to exchange the trench coat for the Country Road trainers instead. After all, she wanted the trainers in place of the coat, as she no longer needed the trench coat, as she replaced it with the one at Zara. At my request, the staff (the cashier) refused to grant the exchange for me, even though I thoroughly explained that the item was bought in that specific store on Good Friday, 18th April. I then told them to check on their system that the trench coat was purchased at this particular Country Road branch, to prove that I was not wasting my time by coming to that store to lie about where it was purchased. Instead, they told me that they could not see it on the system, and eventually I asked them to call a manager, which would end up being KHAYALETHU TSHEMESE. The manager that I have named arrived with an apparent and obvious attitude, and asked what he could assist me with. Either way, I ignored the attitude this man had and I would continue to explain the situation to him. As I was explaining, he told me that he was the one who told the cashier not to grant the exchange for me. While saying this, he was hitting his chest, repeating that he was the one who denied the exchange. He then would continue to put his hands in his pants pockets, still with a distasteful attitude. My eldest daughter then questioned him about the attitude and shoving his hands in his pockets while speaking to a customer, which was very unprofessional and dreadful to experience. I then called my cousin, Ntombi, so I could get her to speak to the man and let her know that she did purchase the trench coat in this store. I couldn't reach her as her line was busy, but eventually she reached back out to me, and I told KHAYAKETHU that the lady who purchased the coat is on the phone. After telling him, he would proceed to ask me what he should do. Which confused me entirely, as he had requested that I call the woman, which I did. He then said that I should come with her, my cousin who made the purchase, to the store the following day. The following day, as requested by the manager KHAYALETHU, I arrived in store at past 8 pm with the woman he wanted to see. When we got there, I asked one of the cashiers to call Khayalethu for me. He then arrived, and I greeted him with utmost respect, and he greeted back, and then I let him know that the woman beside me is the woman he requested I come with. There was a change in his facial expression when I let him know. He then would briefly look at my cousin, Ntombi, and then look back at me with the same attitude from the day before, and then he proceeded to ask me, "And what did I say I would do again?". This then infuriated me heavily, as he was the one who told me to come with the person who purchased the coat, and somehow he is suddenly asking ME, the customer, what to do in that situation. This was very confusing to me and my cousin, Ntombi. I then told him that he can not ask me that, as he played in my face the day before and he thinks he can play in my face and waste my time and petrol again by telling me to come with the person to him, in store, and then continue to ask me what to do and not assist me with anything. I then asked him, again, why he would tell me to return to the store with the person when he knew that he never intended to assist me with the exchange in the first place. He then asked for the till slip, again, this time from Ntombi. Ntombi responded that she never received a till slip, as she had made an exchange of a jacket for the trench coat prior to all of this. Ntombi, who was infuriated herself, then questioned KHAYALETHU about asking to see her in the store when he knew he would not assist us with anything. KHAYALETHU then told Ntombi to go, on her own, and find the person who helped make an exchange for the trench coat that she gifted to my eldest daughter, so that he could "deal with them as they had done what he would have never allowed", his words verbatim. When we were arguing with the manager and raising our voices as we were frustrated, he called the security on standby and the lady to escort us out and that we would be returning the following day. This caused more frustration which led to anger and we were shouting at KHAYALETHU about his mistreatment. My middle daughter, who was there as well, along with my youngest daughter, then confronted him about telling us to return the following day and would ask if if he still intended to not assist us. In which he responded "yes, I am not going to help you". This is very unprofessional and ill-mannered, as he was still playing in my face by not assisting me on the day, and the day before, and ordering me to return the next day when he never intended to help me. I then asked if, by any chance, he knew how expensive petrol is, if he maybe had a vehicle, he would understand. He never responded, which tells me he does not own a single car. While we were shouting, he then said "If you want me, come to Khayelitsha, you"ll find me there" verbatim. I have this on video. This caused another uproar as he was threatening us, I then told him that I do not stay in Khayelitsha. Then my daughter responded that he wouldn't do anything in Khayelitsha and that we could indeed find him because we are fami**** with the area, as we have family there. I want to know if the Woolworths group intentionally employs ******* such as Khayalethu Tshemese, as not a sane, ethical, and professional employee would threaten customers about finding them in the townships, especially in the workplace. What is outrageous to me is that he would insist on telling us that we would find him in Khayelitsha as if we asked him in the first place. This shows that it was no longer a professional or corporate argument but a personal disagreement. He then called for "backup security", and we told him that he could call all of them and that we would still not leave the store. I even told him he could call the police if we stole anything and that we will not leave. More and more people, customers and staff members, gathered to watch the scene unfold, eventually a man namely "Rameez" arrived and tried to console us and calm us down. He then asked what had happened, and we explained while he listened intently. This man also witnessed Khayalethu's outrageous behaviour as he had ordered Khayalethu to leave, and instead Khayalethu refused and said we were insulting him, as if he hadn't been insulting and threatening us, and said he would stand right there and not leave. He would not listen, and eventually another staff member, a black woman with cornrows and brownskin, and spectacles would pull Khayalethu away from the scene while saying "masambe chomi". This lady then stood to the side after Khayalethu left and took out her phone, mind you, this is a Woolworths staff member, and recorded us. My middle daughter then noticed and took out her phone as well, and took a video of the staff member recording a video of us. We have the video. You can see in the video she is asking why we are attending to her because the situation is not about her, and you can hear my daughter asking her why she is recording. This is very unprofessional and upsetting that she saw it as entertainment and thought to take a video of us in the store. What type employees is Woolworths employing? And its so confusing as she could have been doing her job elsewhere but she thought it was funny to a video of us and stand there and laugh.
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25 months ago
AUDACIOUS ENCOUNTER WITH A MANAGER IN COUNTRY ROAD WATERFRONT, WARREN JABOBS
I am writing this review concerning a rude encounter I endured with a Country Road stand-alone manager in Waterfront V&A Mall, namely Warren Jacobs. On Good Friday, 29 March 2024, my wife went into the Country Road store to exchange a dress for the Country Road bags, the cashier called the manager, Warren, informing him that my wife wanted to do an exchange but did not have a till slip. Warren then responded that he couldn’t do the exchange because my wife did not have a till slip, and further questioned her how she received the item, my wife then responded that it was a gift, and then he demanded a gift receipt for the dress, all in while with an alarming attitude. My wife then left the dress there, informing him that she would return with me, her husband, so that Warren and I could speak man-to-man. My wife also told me that before she left the store, Warren was conversing with another manager, and she approached them telling Warren, in front of the other manager, that she also owns a business and she wouldn’t like to lose a customer, even if it was worth only R20 because R20 makes a huge difference, and he doesn’t mind how his attitude affects customers because Country Road does not belong to him, and at the end of the day, whatever he does- he will still be paid his salary. She continued to tell him that she bleeds the same as white, coloured, Indian and other people, red blood, and that she was no different from them. She said this because she was being undermined and discriminated against, by Warren. After all this, she ended up not doing the exchange because Warren denied her the exchange, and so she bought the two bags for R1998,00. I then returned to the store with my wife and I asked for Warren to appear before me, I told him I heard my wife’s side of the story and I wanted to hear his side of the story. This Warren boy, emphasis on boy because he was immature and very ill-mannered even towards me, told me that my wife was rude towards him and that she swore at him, I asked him how she swore at him and he couldn’t respond and tell me how she swore at him. My wife raised her voice in protest and demanded Warren to call the other manager who was present when my wife was allegedly swearing at this boy, Warren. He did not call for the other manager. She then asked the cashiers if she had swore at Warren and they couldn’t respond because they do not remember hearing my wife swearing up a storm at Warren, simply because she did not. There was a white customer, a white man accompanied by a white woman. My daughter and wife heard and saw Warren speaking to this white customer and saying “Here is this customer I was talking about”, which is absurd to me because it is immature for a MANAGER to gossip about a customer to another customer, especially gossiping a black customer to a white customer, which gives me the idea that Warren is trying to make himself seem as the good guy around white people, at the expense of black customers, as a coloured man. The white guy then responded to him “Good, you handled that well like a BOSS”. My wife then responded to the white customer telling him that of course, he would say it was good and appropriate because he is white and he never experienced that behaviour before in his life because of his privilege. Which is being a white man in South Africa, especially in stores much like Country Road. Going nowhere with Warren, we ended up returning those bags my wife bought because Warren was very audacious and ill-mannered and we wanted nothing with them. Warren, your boy manager, exited the store and followed the white customer, continuing to gossip about his altercation with my wife. That was very unsophisticated of him and even though he was working he chose to exit the store and take a stroll in the mall to further gossip with this white couple about my wife. Please inform me, in any way, if Country Road compensates their employees to take a stroll around the mall and gossip about customers to other customers, while on the job.
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27 months ago
UNNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR FROM COUNTRY ROAD CASHIER NAMED LULU IN CAVENDISH SQUARE CAPE TOWN
I am writing to report an audacious and unpleasant encounter that my wife, Zukiswa Kaloli, experienced with a Woolworths staff member at Claremont Cavendish Square Mall. The incident occurred on Tuesday, January 30th, at approximately 5 pm. On this day, my wife had means of exchanging a new Country Road Blouse, that had never been worn, for something else, and also exchange a T-shirt of mine, also Country Road, that had been damaged due to colour discolouration. The t-shirt had been washed once, and the colours blended which led to discolouration and damage to the colour of the t-shirt. The Cashier who had been helping my wife called the manager for assistance. With the manager, a short and coloured male, there was some resistance and an argument between my wife and the manager, because he was refusing to make the exchanges. My wife then explained to them Woolworth’s policy, in detail, as if the staff members did not know their policy. The policy of both Woolworths Group and Country Road Group states that if a customer does not have proof of purchase, and that the clothing is new and has a tag, they must receive a gift card or make an exchange for something else. Besides that, my T-shirt garment had been damaged and it isn’t my fault but the fault of the company’s material. The manager then agreed to make the exchanges only because he was embarrassed that my wife told him, in front of a female white customer, that Woolworth’s staff members seem to change the policy when it comes to black customers, and seem to only apply their policy when it comes to their white customers. It’s a pity that my wife was granted the exchanges out of embarrassment and not because the policy allows her to. In exchange for my damaged T-shirt, I went and searched for a new T-shirt within the same price range, when I went back to the till, I was told that the manager had clocked off, and went home to authorise my T-shirt. In his place, a black young lady, who turned out to be an ill-mannered, derogatory, audacious young lady replaced him. The cashier notified her that the previous manager had approved the exchanges of both articles, but she had a rude attitude, and she told my wife that next time she would NOT exchange anything for wife if she did not have any proof of payment, though it was her first time seeing me and my wife, and assisting us. She said that in a condescending tone, and in a tone that depicted that she owned Woolworths. I and my family have been a proud customer of Woolworths and Country Road group for many years, way before she ever worked for Country Road. She didn’t seem to care about her attitude or tone as well as how it affected us- as long as she received her pay- right? She didn’t care whether Woolworths and Country Road lost customers or not, as long as she received her pay. I have my own company, and I wouldn’t want to lose any customers, or as little money as a twenty rand because that is enough to buy bread for my family. She was very rude, abrupt, and vulgar, because when my wife would raise her voice and argue, she would raise her voice too, and she always had a response. When we were leaving the store, in a high-pitched and mockery tone and voice, she said “BYEEEE” to my wife, after their argument. This shows that she is very ill-mannered and she was mocking my wife and the whole situation as if- again- she owned Woolworths. Wednesday morning, following the encounter with this cheeky young lady, my wife called the Woolworths store in Cavendish, seeking the name of this unknown vulgar young lady. My wife continued to describe her, as she wasn’t aware of her name, and the phone was handed to her, the rude young black lady from the day before. She then greeted her and asked if she was the one helping her the day before, the graceless lady agreed that it was indeed her, and when my wife asked for her name, she refused to give her name and surname, but said she’d give her the name on her tag, which was “Lulu”. She was rude in the way that when asked for her name she refused to give her name, and she still had an appalling and unpleasant attitude. My wife then instructed her to end the call because she was SO RUDE and Lulu refused to end the call stating that my wife was the one who called and that she should drop the phone, again in an unpleasant tone. My wife then asked for her manager, and she was shortly put on hold for a long time until my wife dropped her phone after a long period of waiting. Lulu did that on purpose and had never called her manager as instructed. She as a staff member of Woolworths is very rude, ill-mannered, and *********** in her job. Please do something about this, as Woolworths and Country Road Group will lose many customers because of her cheeky attitude and presence. We will continue to look into this issue, as we are not happy about this encounter, at all. Regards Selone Kaloli
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1 Star
3 (100%)