Cash Crusaders Sun Valley / Longbeach Mall sold me a Samsung S21 with a battery issue and now says I must live with it or pay myself

Cash Crusaders Sun Valley / Longbeach Mall sold me a Samsung S21 with a battery issue and now says I must live with it or pay myself

I am posting this because it is every consumer’s right to complain about poor service and unfair treatment.

This complaint is about **Cash Crusaders Sun Valley / Longbeach Mall** and the owner/franchisee, **Francois Roux**.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S21, stock code ***4, for R3,499. Before buying the phone, I specifically asked about the condition of the phone, including the battery. I was not buying a phone blindly. I asked because the battery condition mattered.

The phone was delivered from Cape Town to Pretoria. Very soon after delivery, it became clear that the battery was not right. After a full charge, it lasts about four hours. The Samsung diagnostic on the actual phone also showed a battery issue.

I then raised the issue with Cash Crusaders Sun Valley and made it clear that I was electing repair under the Consumer Protection Act. I did not ask them to pay money into my account. I did not ask for anything unreasonable. I asked them to authorise and pay for the battery replacement, preferably at a proper local repairer in Pretoria.

Instead of dealing with the problem properly, Cash Crusaders first tried to push me into sending the phone back to Cape Town for a refund. That would mean I must sit without a phone, carry the inconvenience, and be dragged into a courier process because of a problem that showed itself immediately after delivery.

I then obtained a quote for the Samsung S21 battery replacement. The quote was R1,200 including VAT. This was sent to Cash Crusaders so they could see exactly what the repair would cost.

On 29 May 2026, Francois Roux, who identified himself as the franchisee and owner of the business, rep**** and refused to replace the battery at their cost.

He said:

“You received a phone in good working order with a four-hour battery life. A four-hour battery life is reasonable and consistent for a 2021 second-hand model. There is no defect on the phone, and nothing to repair.”

He also said that even if the battery life was substantially shorter, Cash Crusaders’ warranty policy treats batteries as consumables and excludes them.

He then gave me these so-called options:

Use the phone with the current battery.

Replace the battery for your convenience and at your own cost.

Return the phone for a refund after sending it back via PostNet.

So according to Cash Crusaders Sun Valley, I must either accept a phone with a poor battery, pay for the battery replacement myself, or send the phone back and wait for them to refund me later.

That is not acceptable.

The issue is not normal wear and tear that I discovered months later. The issue showed itself immediately after delivery. I specifically asked about the battery before purchase. The phone itself showed a battery issue. Yet the owner’s answer is basically that four hours is good enough, there is nothing to repair, and their own warranty policy says batteries are excluded.

In my view, this is exactly the kind of conduct consumers should speak up about. A business cannot simply rely on its own internal policy and act as if that cancels out the Consumer Protection Act. If a consumer asks about a specific condition before buying, and the product then fails on that exact issue immediately after delivery, the business should deal with it properly.

After I sent a further response with the diagnostic screenshot from the phone, Francois Roux rep**** in Afrikaans:

“Verwys na my vorige epos vir my antwoord. Ek het niks om by te voeg nie.”

So that is their final position. They refuse to replace the battery at their cost and have nothing further to add.

I am placing this complaint on record so other consumers know what happened at Cash Crusaders Sun Valley / Longbeach Mall, and how the owner, Francois Roux, handled a battery complaint on a Samsung S21 that showed a battery issue immediately after delivery.

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