Shell Garage Ormonde Johannesburg
Poor Service, Bad Management

I filled Petrol at Shell Garage in Ormonde. I realized afterwards that I forgot my purse at home. I wanted to go get it, but the petrol attendant expressed that I could not leave without paying. He insisted I leave my cell phone behind with him. I did not feel comfortable with this and preferred a different option to resolve the matter. The petrol attendant then said I should transfer the money to his account and he will swipe his card and pay. I was ready to do an eft from my lap top, but because we are with different banks, the money will not reflect immediately. When I told him this, he then refused the solution and insisted I leave my valuables behind. I then asked to speak to the manager to sort out a solution and the petrol attendant lied and said that there is no manager on site and only him to speak to. I also asked the petrol attendant to give me the Shell bank account details to do an eft, but he lied and said that there are not any. He was a supervisor by the name of SMART. I could not understand how there could be no manager and no one else to speak to. He called another petrol attendant who was also apparently a supervisor by the name of. He insisted I leave my valuables behind while going to get money to pay for the petrol. I then explained I was not comfortable with this and would rather find another solution. I told him I am also not from Johannesburg and would need my cell phone's gps to get around. My next solution was to tell him to take my car registration number down and if I do not return in 40 minutes with the money, he can report me to the police station. I knew I would return with the money and saw it as a reasonable solution as I would never allow myself to get a criminal record. When the petrol attendant again did not reason with me, did not accept my solutions and did not call the manager, I insisted that he can take my car registration and I will return with the money. While attempting to leave, He then kept my car door open and had the audacity to take my car keys from me and walk away with it. This was extremely unprofessional, forward, ill-mannered and uncultured. I shouted at him. The manager then came after seeing that a scene was being made. When someone in charge finally came, they gave my keys back and accepted for me to do an eft. Not only was there a manager on site, but the owner was there too and other people who worked there in similar managerial positions. It is extremely unprofessional for these Shell petrol attendants to lie about there being no managers and to take my car keys. What was worse, was that instead of the owner sorting out the problem which started with his petrol attendants lying and telling me to transfer the money to their account, lying about Shell having a bank account and wanting me to leave my valuables behind, and not following protocol by calling someone higher to resolve the issue, but the owner also picked on the fact that I made a scene. If a scene was not made, I would have been ill treated even further by the petrol attendant and would not have found out that there was in fact a manager and other staff and the owner on site. The owner did not even have the decency to ask me what happened, nor to calm me down from being ill treated by his staff. And when I told him I am going to the police station, he refused to give me his name and the surname of the one petrol attendant who stole my car keys. The owner of that Shell Garage whose name is Ziyaad, needs to take a course on Management skills. He also needs to provide his petrol attendant staff with professional development courses on how to treat customers properly and not lie. The petrol attendant's behaviour is a reflection of the owner's management skills and lack thereof. They are as good as their leader. Not only did this owner refuse to give me his name (which I got from someone else) but when he heard I was going to the police station, he instructed his staff not to give any names to me. He was extremely unprofessional and incompetent. If he did nothing wrong, then he should have had nothing to worry about. One positive thing though was that 3 ladies there were helpful. The lady who was dressed in a niqab, the lady who helped give me the bank details for the eft and the female manager who gave me the name of the uncouth supervisor were all helpful. The owner of this Garage should learn from them how to manage customers who become difficult due to ill-mannered staff who work for him.