Ackermans review: Lay - bye

I made a lay - bye at Ackermans Northridge Mall in Bloemfontein on the 13 January 2020 with the initial date of expiry being the 12 April 2020. The total lay-bye amount was R554.00 and I made a payment of R100. I normally lay-bye winter clothes in Summer so I can save on specials. The contract number was 1000 [protected]. Due to the national lockdown the store was temporarily closed.

On the 23/04 at 14:25, I contacted the store to enquire about the status of my lay-bye as a result of the effects brought by the national lockdown. I spoke to the lady by the name of Nelly and she confirmed that the date on my lay-bye has been extended to the 27/05/2020. On the same day(23/04) at 14:33, I called the store again to confirm and verify the information and asked for Nelly again. The information provided was indeed confirmed and verified and she promised to send me a watsapp of the information but never did.
A couple of days after telephone confirmation, I went to the store again and the same information was verified by another employee who was at the tills but I did not take his name.

Today, the 14/05/2020, I visited the store to pay for my lay-byes as I had 2 separate ones ( 1000 [protected] and 1001 [protected]). To my surprise, the cashier told me that lay-bye(100 [protected]) which had a new expiry date of 27/05/2020 had been cancelled.

I feel very unappreciated and unhappy after all the troubles that I went through to ensure that my lay-bye was kept safe at the store. As I currently have 2 children that I lay-bye clothes for and now I have one very unhappy child as I only managed to bring her sister's clothes while I couldn't bring any for her as promised when I left home. What upset me the most is that the store did not even call or send a message to confirm cancellation of the lay-bye. Had I not visited the store today, the second lay bye would have been cancelled as well without any notification.

I have been a customer at Ackermans for over a decade and therefore feel that I deserve better treatment than what I have experienced today.
These clothes were procured at a very reasonable price in Summer with the anticipation that my children would have winter clothes.

Kind Regards

Dimakatso
email: [protected]@gmail.com
Cell Number : [protected]