In September 2019 a Sales consultant convinced me that I could upgrade to the 'latest & greatest’ A70 in the Galaxy range, which I bought into & upgraded. Only to learn the device would be discontinued shortly after. Technology changes so rapidly I accept that the device became obsolete (in a manner of speaking) in a short period of time. So I'm not fazed about that.
What does bother me is the fact that there were numerous known problems with the aforementioned model. None of which I experienced, until the 'USB connect/disconnect' error randomly appeared one day. My phones battery lasted almost a full 72 hours until this error message appeared (4 months after I received the phone) this malfunction completely dissipated the health of the battery reducing the battery life from about 3 days to 4 hours. (So there went the amazing battery life I was so chuffed to have). This resulted in the battery not lasting as well as the charging pin refusing to acknowledge the charger when plugged it in & eventually the phone just died & I couldn't switch it on again. This is a Samsung issue & not Vodacom issue & I totally get that. Was just disappointing is all...
What IS a Vodacom issue is the fact that when I sent the device in for repairs, it took a period of 3 days to convince the repair store that I bought the phone from Vodacom. Even after scanning the barcoded label with the IMEI number on the original packaging I received the phone in, they were unable to ‘find it’ on the Vodacom database. This resulted in me making numerous phone calls to Vodacom, Mondo & even the RAM Couriers to get copies of any/all documents that I did in fact buy the phone from Vodacom & it was delivered to me by hand. All this on a loan phone (from a family member) as the store did not have any loan devices available (That's understandable as they only have a limited number of loan phones, so I understood & I could pallet that reality)
So, after contacting ALL the companies involved in the upgrade, purchase & delivery company with little success. I FINALLY got amazing effort, help & friendly service from a consultant who truly went the extra mile & I am still indebted to her for her commitment to helping me. In fact since that incident I deal only with her for anything pertaining to my 11 active Vodacom contracts. She restored my faith & is the sole reason I didn't cancel ALL my contracts (be it through litigation or otherwise)
Long story short, she was able to source my proof of purchase & present it to the repairs department so they would finally 'book my device in'.
Then came the 2-week waiting period. Granted this was under Lockdown, so again I understood the delay. Fast forward 4 months later (current drama) & we back to unwarranted politics & what seems like shenanigans! Tried charging my phone & once AGAIN it refused. Simply went off & never came back to life. So another trip to Happiness (your super star consultant) to hand the phone in for repairs AGAIN.
However, as luck would have it, while at the store the new Manager of the Repairs center happened to be in the store that Happiness works in (New Market Mall) – Same mall the repair center is situated. So when he heard of the problem, he promptly took the phone & plugged it in a charger to see what was wrong (I assume he may have suspected it could have been a problem with my charger). A completely plausible possibility so I took no offense. In fact I was happy he was there.
Point being that both he & Happiness (your star consultant) held the phone in their hands & could very clearly see my display/glass & there was NOTHING wrong with the display/glass. But...
After them taking the phone to the repair store, booking it in & sending it off, I received an SMS stating that due to the 'cracked screen' my warranty was void & the repair cost amounts to a little more than R 3100. Had the exact amount in an SMS, but can't seem to find the texts now for some very strange reason, they’ve mysteriously disappeared.
Shocked and equally infuriated at this obscene & preposterous notion that because 'I' supposedly cracked my phone screen/glass (WHICH WAS NOT THE CASE), the charging pin repair would cost the more the R 3100!!!
After receiving the text I immediately tried phoning Happiness but could not reach her at the store, so I emailed her instead. Within 5 minutes she phoned me & said she would flag this idiocy to 'Darren' the Manager at the Vodacom Repairs store.
Which being as reliable as she is she did. Darren then phoned me & we discussed this ridiculous notion. (In lieu of my phone NOT having a cracked screen/glass as claimed by someone), it would implicate his team at the repair store. Which is grossly unfair. The only logical & reasonable scenario/explanation I can imagine is that my phones screen/glass got damaged(‘cracked’) in transit & the guilty party is not owning up to this.
During our conversation he confirmed emphatically that there was NO crack in my phones screen & as such he would escalate the matter via email to the relevant people & get back to me. Wanting peace of mind I asked that he forward a copy of the escalation email to me, but he said it negates company policy to share internal emails with customers. I accepted that, as he seems forthcoming.
The next best thing I could do he suggested is that I contact the repair center to follow up that they have been corrected via his escalation mail & ARE going to honour my warranty.
I called the repair center yesterday & spoke to an operator named Melanie to follow up. She seemed perturbed somehow & phoned Darren, putting me on hold while speaking to him. Didn't mind that since I need the situation resolved & I had time since I'm on sick leave at the moment. (Allowing me to write this entire saga - blow by blow)
So after the above essay, my question is simply this. Who CAN & WILL help me expediently get what I paid for or should I cancel ALL my contracts & we go the litigation route?
I trust that you will do what is right & I eagerly await your feedback. For this is not only a matter of honour, but principality.
PS. Job number 13506823.