Mis-advertising, unhelpfulness & incompetency

I would like to share a story of mis-advertising, unhelpfulness & incompetency.

On Friday, 7th Dec 18, my wife went and bought (from Incredible Connection in Sandton City) a “DIAMOND 39-inch (99cm) HD LED TV- DFG39VMNW” for R2799 on special. Or at least that is what the adverti*****t said.

It was for an early Christmas present for my son. When we opened it on Sunday I noticed the packaging said “HD-Ready”, and we all know what that means:

It means “this TV cannot display HD, it can however accept an HD cable though – aren’t you just the lucky one…”

In technical speak “HD” means a resolution of 1920x1080, and “HD-Ready” means 1280x720 pixels – the same resolution as old box TV sets.

Being too late on the weekend to rush back to the store we bought the TV (Sandton), I wrote a letter to Incredible Connection, and to their credit they responded saying I could return it to any store for a credit. Which I did first thing on Monday, 10th Dec – to the Northgate branch of Incredible.

I hoped that, since the adverti*****t was in fact misleading (about HD), Incredible Connection would honour the spirit of their specials, and maintain the special price for the next model up, which was actually an HD TV, and for which I would be happy to pay the balance. No ways – the manager of that store would not entertain that thought at all. Best he could off was 5% discount on the next model. Even though it was a demo model – all he had left! He was not helpful in any way, preferring to give me a “gift card” for my refund.

So now I have a gift card and no TV.

Back at my office I looked up the call centre number ( ********** 459) for Incredible, and on calling it, the voice prompt informed me I was speaking to “HiFi Corporation”. This seemed strange so I Googled it, and sure enough – both Incredible and HiFi belong under the umbrella company called “JD Group”. So I called JD Group directly ( ********** 408), to discover that indeed not only are they the parent group, but that – delight of delights - my gift card can be used in ANY of the group companies. Which meant I could use my card in HiFi Corp.

I looked at HiFi Corp website, and the exact TV I was hoping to replace at Incredible was there for the exact same special price also! So I jumped back in my car and rushed straight to HiFi Corp – Fourways Crossing.

When I got there the staff told me that, no – they do not accept the Incredible Connection gift card. So I called JD Group again, for the second time, in front of them, and let them speak to the lady at the head office…..

All I can say is – HiFi Corp 1 : JD Group nil. The HiFi Corporation staff told the their parent company, JDG, where to get off!

I went back to Incredible Connection (next door to HiFi Corp) to plead for cash back, or to honour the special price from the day before. No luck. I called JD Group again (third time) to let them discuss, but this time JD Group conceded defeat – their child companies clearly called the shots.

So – I am still stuck with a gift card I cannot use (and have no inclination to ever set foot back in an Incredible Connection for) and no TV.

Moreover I learnt that JD Group do not really know what is going on in their own business anyway.

I will not be rushing back to either Incredible Connection or HiFi Corp in the future, except under duress.