No Accountability (Faulty Device/s) from iStore or Apple South Africa

We purchased an IPAD AIR 2 WIFI 32GB-SG on 31st December 2016, upon purchasing the device from the iStore at the Mall of Africa in Johannesburg we were sold a iCare + voucher (24 Months additional warranty) for the replacement of the unit should it be damaged or become faulty during the period of the iCare warranty. In September 2018 the device experienced challenges relating to intermittent shutdown on the Ipad, the device would just exit applications and rebooted consistently. On the 19th September 2018 the device was replaced which we assumed was a brand new device. This came with a 90 day warranty on the device. The new device also started shutting down and intermittently looping with just the Apple logo present at times during December 2018. The replaced device had never fallen or shown signs of visible signs of damage due to mal-use on our part.

We booked the device in on the 27th January 2019 and indicated to the iStore technicians at the Mall of Africa branch that the device was in-fact experiencing the same symptoms as the first replacement. They advised us that a technical audit would take place on the device. We received a quotation a few days later indicating that the device will need to be replaced in totality with a brand new purchase and no technical report was rendered on the device to indicate what the original failure was. I firmly believe the device we currently have experienced a hardware failure and I don’t believe this was in-fact a new device rather a device that was refurbished and handed over to us as a replacement in September 2018.

We are extremely upset that we now have to fit the bill for a new iPad and we are shocked by the poor level of service we experienced at the iStore Mall of Africa and the support from Apple South Africa on who needs to assist with solving the challenge at hand. We don’t believe paying R6000+ for device should last this short lifespan, first unit +- 22 months and second unit +- 4 months. At the time we believed that Apple as the best produce to invest in for our child’s future as she uses this device for school.