PEP customers may find the following article of interest:
Having visited PEP’s Scottburgh, KZN branch and purchased three identical shirts of varying colour, I was shocked upon paying for said items, as although the garments were on the same rail, each had questionable ascending price tags.
The garment displayed foremost was valued at R59.99, the second R99.99 and the last an astronomical R149.99. Naturally, I queried this extraneous pricing, expressing the fact that this is deliberately misleading in the interest of profit. Whereupon, the Manageress, informed me the cheaper garments were ‘old stock’ and special offer sales...strange, as they were not marked as such? So were the garments sale items or staggered price hikes?
Does the refrain, ‘figures can’t lie but liars can figure’, ring a bell in this scenario? Who knows?
In the interest of fair trading, I contacted the CEO, Mr Jaap Hamman who’s PA , I assume, as he is on vacation, passed the matter over to Mr Baxter, Regional Manager.
After a so-called investigation he instigated, I was presented with what appears to represent, a mammoth cover-up riddled with company Newspeak...better known as gobbledegook.
Herewith is a list of PEP’s policies as presented to me and apparently endorsed by PEP’s acting CEO.
a) It is custom and practice for ‘sale’ offers to be displayed on full price garment rails at times, the sale items foremost...non-sale items rearmost... Oh, really?
b) One cash register only to be available at opening time to thwart cash heists.
c) At opening time, refunds cannot be honoured because of small till float.
d) Customers’ complaints receive dignity and respect and acted upon at all times.
Excluding (a) from the list as being dubious, one can comprehend business acumen regarding b,c,and d. However, (d) is also questionable should complainants receive a seemingly ambiguous reply such as I?
In conclusion, was I ripped off, are all PEP’s stores ripping us off wholesale?
Possibly, the CEO, Mr Jaap Hammon, will justify his pricing practices within this column? Possibly not...