Disgraceful disregard for the CPA Law

***, Incredible *******ion is more like it.

At the end of last year, I bought a Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio (the top model) for R57k. That's a lot of money.

First problem with the product was its battery life was terrible. I had all the lights off in the house during load shedding, and I had the screen on it's most dim (like IC's staff) setting that was still possible to see the screen. I had it on low power mode. And I was just surfing the web.

It barely lasted 2 1/2 hours. It's "supposed" to last 18 hours doing more than that at a higher dim level.

But that wasn't my main issue: my main issue was the keyboard effectively became defective after the second week of buying the computer.

It became very, very frustrating to type or use the computer because of this. An inherent defect revealed so soon after purchase is cause for greater concern of what else might not function in the near future.

I was busy for the next two weeks and only got back to the store for a refund for a defective product about two days after a month had past.

According to the staff at the tech desk, I had to have brought it in within a month, that's in compliance with Microsoft's procedure or some such nonsense.

This is completely falling afoul of the Consumer Protection Act. I told them so, and I repeated specific parts of it to them, as I have lawyer parents and a lot of lawyer family and friends, and I've picked up certain competencies over the last few decades. I know how to read and interpret the law.

But they refused to budge on it, saying they would look into it and see if they could fix it.

I no longer wanted any replacement, I realised I had made a mistake by not going with Mac, where these kinds of defects are incredibly rare.

If this inherent defect happened one day after the IMP**** warrant of 6 months, I would have been out of luck. As it was, I left the computer with them and told them they better inspect it, see it was defective, and pay me back my money.

That was the Saturday. The Monday I got a call from a guy at the store who told me that this was unfortunately something they couldn't sort out and my only option was to go to Microsoft directly.

Do Microsoft even operate here? I don't know. I didn't care. I screamed at the phone that they're running afoul of the Consumer Protection Act and they owed me back my money.

When the guy on the other side of the line again stonewalled me with, "Sorry, sir, UNFORTUNATELY there's nothing we can do..." I felled back, "Yes there is! Abide by the law of the country!" And slammed the phone on him.

I was extremely frustrated by this point. I knew I was basically just going to be continually stonewalled, over and over again, so I decided to do the only thing that would work.

I approached my mother and asked her if one of her attorneys could write a letter of demand for me. A legal letter of demand. I gave this attorney all the details, including copies of the receipts and my ID, and my bank account, and she wrote out a legal letter of demand, which was then sent to Incredible Connection's head office referencing the particular store I bought the product at. Reminder: R57K is more than some cars you can buy, if you know the right people (and I mean buying it in a completely legal way).

A few days after the letter of demand was sent, I received a phone call from the Incredible Connection I had bought the Microsoft Surface Studio from, and only then was there a willingness to comply with the law.

The law that states we are protected from defective products for a 6 month period.

Some of these companies will try make it sound like it's just not company policy and do all kinds of things to frustrate you to forego you of your rights. And you're left with an incredible loss.

It really left a bad taste in my mouth because I don't think I would have been able to afford a lawyer to help me if my mother didn't run her own practice.

That machine was an investment in my own freelance work of both writing and designing. And it failed miserably. They SHOULD have taken it back and given the refund as SOON as they saw it was inherently defective. Not shrug their shoulders, then tell me I had to go to the manufacturer (somehow) and sort it out with them.

My experience with them is, if you buy anything from them, pray there's nothing defective with it or you will have a nightmare getting a refund, replacement, or repair out of them without the help of a lawyer. They know the law.

They're not ******** of it. But, and I am not saying I'm correct, but based on my experience, I reckon there is a secret company policy in place to make it as difficult as possible to get relief from them for something is basically them running afoul of the Consumer Protection Act.

Until that lawyer's letter was sent, they acted almost like the CPA law didn't exist or it didn't have any real world effect.

On the contrary, say you want to buy a MacBook, don't go there. Go to the iStore. My experience with them whenever, WHENEVER I've had an issue of some kind, is that they help you and they follow the law, without any complaint.

It is a completely different customer service experience. It is like no other. Never buy an Apple product from Incredible Connection, unless you're feeling lucky.

And if you want a Windows laptop, there are companies that are much better with customer service than Incredible Connection. Frankly, I strongly advise against purchasing so much as printer ink from them. They are law-breakers. That can be quite clearly shown in my experience with them.

And with so many other people's experience with them as you can see from all the other reviews. Quite frankly, they should be ***cotted, because going as far as riding roughshod over a consumer's rights is both ******* and disgraceful.

I'd give them zero stars if I could.