Kmart review: Return of item that stopped working

On September 7 I purchased a stick vacuum cleaner from the Bethlehem store. We used the self pay machine to pay for it, When we had completed the transaction a receipt popped out, & we grabbed that and left, driving back to Katikati where we live. Half way home my wife told me she had just realised that the receipt was not for our item.

Two days ago it stopped working. Yesterday we took it back to the store. We had taken a photograph of our on line bank statement showing a payment to Kmart on Sept. 7 for $99.00. We were asked for a receipt first off of course, to which we explained to the gals who were serving us what had happened on the 7th. They told us the store could not replace the item or give us our money back without a receipt. We told them we were aware of that & showed them the photo of our bank statement. Their names are Alyssa and Karliah. They were polite and understanding. One of them called for someone to check the computer for a sale with our debit card # for the item on 7th Sept. That person was on her half hour lunch break so we waited for half an hour but we were told she was still not back at work. I told them we would go to Tauranga, do some shopping there, & return. On our return, 90 minutes later, the gal told us the other person was still not back at work. She then called for an 'emergency manager,' I think she said. Karen came & chatted with these 2 gals for a while then came to us and assured us that the store could not help us without a receipt. I asked her to look on their computers for Sept. 7 & she would see our transaction there. She told me she was too busy, And I was about to tell her that time was not an issue as we could wait till a later date for this to be taken care of, but she then told me that she would do that but it would take half an hour. On her way to do this she turned & told me that she could give us a voucher, I asked what that meant & she told me I could purchase anything in the store for $99. I told her I did not want that. She got rather huffy & told me again that it was all she could to, & walked off. 30 min's later I want into the store again & the gals called Karen who told Rangimarie to deal with it. She told me that they had seen the receipt on their computer but they were only able to offer us a voucher because I did not have a receipt. This was rather confusing to me & I told her that if she had seen my receipt on her computer then that was enough.But she assured us that the only thing they could do was give us this voucher thing. I then asked her for the names of the 4 female staff who we had dealt with, so I could make a complaint to corporate HQ. She did this & we left. I have NEVER taken a broken item back to any store & been told I could only get voucher, They all gave me my money back.