Chateau Gateaux Menlyn review: Poor service

On Saturday, 6 August, I went to the Menlyn branch of Chateau Gateaux to order 2 LARGE cakes for a function on 14 August. I was told that they could not place an order, but that I had to come in the next Saturday. I told them that I did not want to take the risk of arriving at the store and them not having the cakes that I wanted, so I offered to pay for the cakes. They then processed my payment and gave me a written receipt for the TWO cakes.

When I got home, I decided to check the size of the cakes against the number of slices I would require and discovered that the slices would be way too small. I phoned Menlyn branch on Wednesday, 10 August to ask them to change the order to FOUR x MEDIUM cakes as they had told me that I could get 8 slices from each cake. This would have cost slightly more, but I was told that they COULD NOT CHANGE my order. I went to the shop that afternoon and was told once again that they could not change my order. I then told them that in that case I wanted to CANCEL the order. The agreed, but told me that they could not give me a CREDIT CARD refund and that I would have to complete a form with my bank details so that they could refund my money.

I have now been informed by Menlyn branch that my refund will take 5 to 7 days to be processed!

Not only did they refuse to do a simple exchange of order (the cakes had not been made yet - as a matter of fact, they make large quantities of cakes in advance which are held in a freezer, so I don't understand why they could not do a simple exchange, BUT after having paid for a product that I now do not have, I am made to wait another week for my refund, whilst they are having the benefit of my money.

The service at this shop was pathetic and customers should not have to put up with this kind of behaviour!