Poor service from Incredible Connection

I hate whining, and I hate having to resort to social media to get something done (it seems so primary school tattle-tale) but, after multiple failed attempts to get Incredible Connection (IC) to assure me of some service, I am left with no option. Here's my sorry tale:

Late November, 2019: I order my shiny new Acer laptop from IC online. I'm impressed by their service and my laptop arrives in the arms of a lovely courier guy in under a week. It works like a dream.

March/April, 2020 (as the dreaded COVID-19 hits our s****s): I put myself under lockdown, due to being high risk. Sod's Law makes the mouse pad on my fabulous new laptop stop working. I watch multiple YouTube videos and do everything that the Google gods tell me to do to try and fix it myself: install new drivers etc. Nothing works.

I phone the IC helpline. There I speak to an efficient young woman and explain my dilemma. She says I have to take the computer in, once the lockdown level allows it. I explain that I would be locked down for the foreseeable future and needed the mousepad to work in order to, well, work. She was fabulous and said she'd expedite it.

23 May, I receive a mail from someone at IC. It says: Good day, Hope this mail finds you well. Please kindly note that we wont be able to collect the unit from you, we only collect the unit within 14 days of purchase. Kindly take the unit to the store for assistance. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

I mull this over in my head a little, sensing that I'm in for an uphill battle. I am of a Pollyanna-esque nature, though, so I think perhaps the crux of the issue has been lost between the telephonic helpline and this dude.

On 24 May, I reply: Thank you for your reply but, as I discussed with *** when I spoke to her last week, I cannot come in as I am high risk if I get COVID-19 as I am quadriplegic (in a wheelchair), so I have been self-isolating since mid-March and will not be leaving my home until we're on the other side of this.

It is for this reason, too, that the non-working of my mousepad is a huge issue. I do not have finger function. This is not an issue when I am up, as I can use a mouse when I'm sitting, but when I do after-hours on call (I am a sessional pharmacist), I have my laptop in bed with me to answer calls in the early hours of the morning and I can't use the mouse then, I need the mousepad.

So, it's kind of urgent and I need to make some kind of a plan to get this sorted, please? I'm a bit desperate.

Thanks very much, I'll wait to hear back from you.

<Crickets> On 1 June, I sent a 'gentle reminder' to all six of the IC people to whom the first reply to me had been cc'ed. Yes, six: Just checking in that you got my reply, below, sent a week ago?

<More crickets> On 5 June, I sent a less gentle reminder: It has now been two weeks ... this is not the service I'm used to from IC. Please can someone let me know what's happening?

On 13 June, I received this: This is the only procedure that will have to be followed as per our terms and condition as the unit has been over 14 days and collection cannot be done, the only way to assist you is to take the unit back to the store.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

I get Ts & Cs but these are 'unprecedented times', as we keep being told, which require 'unprecedented actions'. On 15 June, I reply. Seething, but remaining polite: I am very unimpressed with this lack of flexibility. It is not an option for me to come in - I am high risk, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic - and I'm trying to contribute to a national health service from home.

Can I have your word that when I can finally come in, post-pandemic, this will still be fixed, as it happened while the laptop was still new, which it won't be after this has passed and it's impossible for me to come in. I'd like to escalate this matter, to obtain that assurance, please.

You guessed it ... <an entire chorus of crickets> So last week, on 12 July, I mailed all seven IC people, again: It has been almost a month since I sent this mail, with no reply. Please give me your written assurance that this will be fixed, as per warranty, when it is safe for me to bring it in, even if it is past the date of warranty. I hate to threaten going to the media/social media, but I am being left no choice, here, having had no response.

I will wait until the end of the week (17 July) and then, if I get no assurance, will take this further.

Yours sincerely (and frustrated), Briony Chisholm.

I have heard nothing, so here I am, ranting on Facebook, because I have no choice. The reference number is ***.

I, too, apologise for any inconvenience caused by this post.

Actually, no, I don't.