Istore Clearwater not willing to repair my iPad Pro Sim Slot - a Minor Fix

<p>I have been a loyal customer of Apple and the iStores in South Africa for many years now. I have come to know their products as dependable and well manufactured. Recently I discovered, to my dismay, that their after sales support however leaves much to be desired.</p> <p>My iPad Pro 9.7" is just over a year old and the SIM slot has developed a problem where it will not eject the SIM tray. I took the iPad in for repairs (iStore in Cleawater Mall, Roodepoort), thinking that this is a small problem which will be fixed in no time at all. To my dismay they informed me that the unit cannot be repaired, the only option I have is to hand in my unit and purchase a refurbished replacement unit at a whopping R6687!!!</p> <p>I went and had a look at some technical information on the WWW and this seems to be a relatively simple technical fix, if you know what you're doing of course - One would expect this is what the iStore repair centres are there for right? - Wrong!</p> <p>I have never had to deal with iStore's after-sales support, but this one BAD incident is enough for me to move away from the brand completely. Their products are premium priced, but they cannot provide a decent backup service.</p> <p>Very disappointed to say the least!</p> <p>Finally I would like to just mention that this is of course a way to milk their clients for more money. This may not be the said iStore's branch's fault per se, but a bigger problem within iStore South Africa. I feel this case should've been dealt with in a pragmatic manner and a cheaper solution should've been sought for me as a loyal client. But maybe that's the problem, I'm just one client.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>