Facebook user Hafiz Juremi shared how he visited the Havaianas store at Tampines mall with his sister and grandmother on 28 September.
He alleged that the staff refused to let his 76-year-old grandmother sit down on their sofa to rest.
Here is what he said
Dear Havaianas,
I regret to share such an awful experience with one of your retail staff in Tampines Mall and here is what happened earlier on today.
On 28 September 2022, Wednesday at about 630PM I visited the store and approached the staff to politely ask her the permission for my 76 year old Grandmother to take a quick rest from walking at the sofa in the store. Your staff turned down my favour by saying “will u be long?” I replied “not for long while i get something from Isetan”.
*At this point my grandmother was already sitting on the sofa.
I was about to find something at Isetan while my sister has to change her baby diapers and since the toilet was relatively far, we thought it would be nice for my 76 year old grandmother to take a break from walking and use the sofa for a little help.
Little do u know your staff added on “my boss wont allow such thing to happen in the store” i was stunned and shocked for what she had just said that clearly was so upsetting me & my grandmother. I told her i can explain to your “boss” that this old lady needs to just sit here while me and my sister get our job done fast and come back to the store because i was planning to get a new pair of slippers.
I even had to promise the staff that my 76 year old grandmother wont scare the invisible customer in your store. My point is nobody was in the store. I dont see why my grandmother couldnt use the sofa for a little help.
She then decided to mention that “only if u are buying the shoes in my store, then u will be allowed to sit here”. That was another upsetting statement.
*At this point my grandmother was telling her that she might be able to leave in 2 minutes if she could atleast let her take a quick rest.
I even asked why? Who implemented that rule, because clearly it’s awful. She then gave me the worst reason i have ever heard “because this isnt a store, this is a boutique”. Really?! Even CHARLES & KEITH will allow us to sit on the sofa even if we are just trying on their product. Let alone i do think Crocs will even allow an elderly to take a sit on their sofa even if she is not going to buy any of their products.
*i wasnt even requesting her to look after my grandmother or to allow my grandmother to sleep on the sofa. Just to sit. For a moment.
She was totally being disrespectful and stomp her feet into the back room. She came back outside and said “ahh annoying”. Imagine asking someone a favour if they could borrow a seat for and elderly to sit just to be called “annoying”. How awful.
You may be wondering why Havaianas? Because like ive mentioned we were planning to get a slipper from the store plus it was the nearest option for my grandmother.
I then told her i need to speak to the manager and she claimed that she is the “manager”. To my surprised i wondered how is she even the manager when clearly she dont even have any humanity and empathy, especially to an elderly.
My 76 year old grandmother had no choice but to leave the store limping her way out while i look for her a seat somewhere nearby. Lucky for us there was a FNB outlet opposite Cotton On offered my grandmother a chair to sit and rest for as long as she need so she’d be able to have the energy and walk again. Or atleast go home.
She even apologised to the staff for asking a permission to sit on the sofa for awhile to catch her breath and rest from all the walking when i personally think that Havaianas should be the one apologizing for such inhumane behaviour.
Infact apologising wont even repay the damage uve done to my grandmother mother, an elderly!
Really wished she could do some help but to my advice if anyone of u wished to sit on Havaianas and not planning to buy any of their product, pls dont because the only help u get is humiliation.
So to the staff at Tampines Havainas if u think u wanna call yourself a “boutique” u might wanna reconsider that!
Havaianas Singapore responds
Havaianas Singapore has since said that they are aware of the purported incident, and they have since apologised to Juremi for the unpleasant experience.