CellC Phoenix Plaza-Horrible Customer Experience

Horrible Experience from CellC Phoenix Plaza and CellC Gateway-DO NOT USE THEM

On the 24th April 2019 my wife and I renewed one of our current mobile phone contracts with CellC at the Phoenix Plaza. Roughly 3 weeks ago the mobile phone went off and would not turn on even after being on a charger. Because we work in Umhlanga and Gateway is closer we took the phone to CellC Gateway to have it sorted. We dealt with the store Manager named Dhiraj whom booked the phone in for repairs and had this sent to the repair centre. About a week later the phone was ready to be picked up, they had managed to get it working again, how? We don’t know as there was no report to say what was done, nevertheless it worked and it was handed to us.

This Tuesday the phone went off again and didn’t want to come back on. Because the initial repair was carried out by Gateway CellC we took the phone back to them on Tuesday morning. The Manager i.e. Dhiraj checked the phone and mentioned its freezing and needs to be hard rebooted. He recommended that I take the phone back to the initial store where we took the contract from and ask the Store Manager to motivate for a replacement handset due this one being faulty. Dhiraj at Gateway said he couldn’t do that.

Anyway we headed over to CellC Phoenix Plaza and approached the lady that we initially renewed our contract with, her name is Dolly, she immediately asked if we could take the phone over to a repair centre in Nandi drive , to which I said no. I asked if I could see her manager and she mentioned that he was day off, she said she would book the phone in as per normal process and I could call her manager. I asked for his number and she gave me ***. We completed the request to have the phone booked in and left with the intent of me phoning him(Wesley Store Manager) to request a replacement handset.

I got back to the office and that afternoon I called the mobile number Dolly handed me for her manager only to find out that this number takes you back to the CellC store in Phoenix Plaza, I was shocked that this lady **** to me so asked to speak her, when she spoke to me I asked why did you give me a wrong number for your manager, she said “I thought you was going to call him tomorrow” and “we are not allowed to give his number out” anyway I told her shouldn’t have **** to me and give me a number under false pretences. I mentioned I will be laying a complaint with her manager.

I then called back the store on Wednesday to speak to Wesley who is the store Manager, he wasn’t available initially so I was asked to call back in 40 minutes, I did and managed to speak to him explaining the whole ordeal.

He heard me out, although not very empathetic even after explaining the lies by his staff his comment was “I hear you”. Anyway he took my reference number and assured me he was going to fast track the phone to understand the issue. He mentioned in the meantime he will get me a loan phone after explaining to him my job was dependant on it, he did say he will be in meeting in his head office on Thursday(yesterday) however he will call(Gave him my wife’s number) in the afternoon to arrange for me to collect a loan phone until he sorts my query out. He never called.

I called the store at around 14.30 today, Dolly answered and mentioned that Wesley is day off and will only be returning to work on Tuesday next week, I was disgusted by another poor experience by the a Store Manager! She mentioned that I could speak to a second in charge, a lady by the name of Sharon, again I explained all of the above, she asked that I called back in 30minutes as she was going to call Wesley.

I called her back in 30 minutes she mentioned that she spoke to the assessment centre and that my phone was still being assessed. I said to her that was not my query and that my initial contact with her was around getting an answer around my replacement handset. She mentioned Wesley said he could lend me a phone that allows me to make calls only at this point I told her I don’t think you get my query and asked for contact details for her Regional Manager, she said they were not allowed to disclose this.

I’m not sure where to progress with this to be honest as I’m not getting any help from CellC aswell as I logged a concern on their online portal, no one has contacted me since.

Note this handset is just over 3months old and in their repair Centre for the second time, the renewed contract just took effect on its first month..

CONSUMERS SHOULD TAKE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION AROUND AFTER SERVICE WITH STORES LIKE THESE