Destroying the Apple Brand for South Africans!

The left bud of my 10-month-old Beats Fit Pro randomly started distorting. I checked on the internet to find 100,000+ hits of many other users around the world complaining of the same thing. So, I returned the buds to the store I bought them from, (The Digital Experience) who packaged them up, and sent them to Core.

A week later I got a quote for R6000 to replace them + labour.??? A new pair is only R3899. The reason they would not honour the warranty was that they claimed I had "physically damaged" the buds.

We asked for proof which was eventually sent and they are claiming that I removed internal parts of BOTH earbuds, even though the problem only existed on the LEFT earbud. The pictures clearly showed the mesh missing from the buds. How the hell could I, or would I remove the mesh protecting these earbuds and then hand them in for warranty repair???

I would need extremely specialised and very small tools to do this and have a good reason to as well. After multiple calls to the Core group and promises of managers calling me back, nothing happened so I called again. I spent half an hour on the phone with the senior manager trying to explain how ludicrous this is but she would not accept any other outcome and insisted that I must have damaged these myself.

So, I take the R4000 spent on my Beats Fit Pro, which are still UNDER WARRANTY, and throw them in the dustbin, along with my faith in the Core Group and in them honouring their warranty obligations.

I will never buy Apple or Beats Earbuds or Headphones in South Africa again. To Core - you have successfully made the world's most desirable products completely undesirable.

And to the Digital Experience Team- thanks for everything you have done to try and support me in this ridiculous situation.