Terrible Service from DSTV agents in PMB and replacing 6 month old decoder (still under warranty) with old so called repaired decoder,

In late December last year we changed from a PVR decoder to a Explorer 3 decoder.

We live in Pietermaritzburg and we ordered the decoder over the phone directly from DSTV. The problems started when we DSTV sent installers from Durban rather than use local installers. The installation was done in late December 2020 The installation was such a mess and did not work with our Xtra View decoder in the bedroom and the picture was so bad that we had to contact a local DSTV accredited installer who then installed the decoder correctly. All worked well until Monday 3 May when the decoder stopped recording and actually started deleting previously reordered programs. We called in our local installer who checked the wiring and reset the decoder. He advised that the problem was probably with the actual decoder hard drive and that we would have to take the decoder to the only DSTV accredited agent situated in Pietermaritzburg

I advised that i had just been discharged from hospital following knee replacement and my wife was also not well and asked if a replacement decoder could be delivered to us. We were advised that this was not possible.

Yesterday my wife took the decoder to the accredited DSTV agent in Pietermaritzburg. After spending over 3 hours in a queuing outside the premises she was eventually assisted . Initially she was informed that the decoder was not under guarantee but when she confirmed that the decoder was less than 6 months old it and that the hardware was *******ed it was replaced with an apparently new decoder. As the decider was not in a box my wife had suspicions that this decoder was not in fact not new. I must add that many of the customers in the shop did not have their masks on.

After arriving home in and being in quite a state because of the 3 hour wait plus few masks worn by customers my wife advised that she would never go back there again. I connected the decoder and all seemed to work well for approx 5 hours. Then the red light for recording kept going off and coming on again. Shortly after that the TV and decoder just went off with the red light staying on.

This morning I contacted our installer who sent a team around and I asked that he send a new decoder as I had serious suspicions that the decoder had blown and that it was not new. This was later confirmed by the installer ( advising that the decoder was a previously repaired decoder and that the hardware had blown. They then had to install a new decoder, which I had to pay for.

I still have the ostensibly new decoder that was supp**** yesterday.

Besides the terrible service from the DSTV agent how can DSTV supply old, repaired decoders that dont work, against 6 month old decoders that have broken after less than 6 months and that are under guarantee.