GAME NOT PLAYING BALL

I immigrated from Australia (to Cape Town) early in 2022 and had to furnish my place from scratch, so I spent over R20,000 at GAME on my first day in Cape Town. I bought quite a few household appliances, including (regrettably) a R2,400 Samsung microwave.

Fast forward 12 months and the microwave suddenly stopped working. I returned it to Game who informed me that the item was subject to a 24 month "repair warranty" (if it breaks, they will repair it, not replace it). They also explained that this can take up to 21 working days.

Unsurprisingly, on day 20 I received a call that informed me that I voided the warranty when I replaced the electric plug on the item. Consequently I will have to pay almost R1000 for the repair, a repair that has no relation to the replaced electrical plug, or pay almost R300 (a "rejection fee") to get my broken microwave back!!!

I concede that Game's handling of this matter was within their legal rights, although I feel it was simultaneously unfair and "the wrong thing to do". They claim (based on what seems to be a technicality) that I voided the warranty - If I opened up the guts of it and performed serious backyard-surgery on it, I would understand, but replacing an electrical plug??? This was clearly just a way for them to avoid the cost of the repair. It is clear from the R1,000 quote that the repair was unrelated to the replaced electrical plug - again, they used whatever loophole they could find to avoid their responsibility of paying for the repair. Then there is the t***** matter of the R300 "rejection fee". How can they justify charging me a further R300 if I cannot afford to have the item repaired for R1000 in the first place. This is not only unfair and *********, but simply daylight ******* by a corporate who does not care about a customer who spent R20,000 with them. This all happened 2 months ago - I am without a microwave all this time. Recently, they called to ask when I am going to pay the R300 rejection fee, failing which they will dispose of MY Microwave that I paid R2400 for at their store.

As far as I am concerned this company has no regard for their customers and will do anything (legal) they can to get away with it, even if it is obviously unfair and *********.

I am at my wits end and do not know what to do to get my Microwave repaired by Game, hence I am posting here. Maybe others will heed this warning and think carefully about where to spend their hard-earned money.