Worst service!

I am never going to support Makro again. They have the worst customer service and quite frankly, it seems as if they have no idea what they are doing. My experience with them will be unforgettable and unforgivable.

As a young adult, I worked hard for many months to buy myself an iPad. I am a student and also practice web development, so I came to the conclusion that I would benefit from acquiring one. I looked at different places for prices on an iPad 11 Pro. I came to the conclusion that Makro had the best deal. (Worst decision of my life!)

Once I got the money that I worked hard for I bought the iPad online. After waiting for many weeks, I eventually got it. I used it for a couple of months, only to realise that the pixels were starting to fade and get white in colour. I knew I had a warranty for the device so I took it to Makro because I was told by one of their employees that I have to take it directly to them if I want it to be repaired.

I took the device to the Makro Strubensvalley in Johannesburg, Gauteng for it to be repaired. I was told the whole process could take up to 6 weeks. Upon giving the device to the lady at the counter, I explained about the faulty pixels and that I would like for it to be repaired. I left the screen protector on the iPad so that the 'actual' screen would be protected during transport. After going through the procedure I left the iPad with the Returns department for it to be repaired.

After 4 weeks of waiting, I called in to ask for an update. I was told that they will call the repair centre and get back to me. After a week of waiting, I got no response and called again. The same thing happened over and over again. After 8 weeks I called again to find out what was going on. I was then told by the Manager, Fortune, that it was finished and would be back at Makro on Friday (26 May) for my mother to come in and collect it.

My mother, her partner and I went into the Returns department on Saturday (27 May) and were told it has not been delivered. My mother then asked well where is it and they were clueless. Eventually, they found it in their store with the cracked screen protector still on, which gave me the assumption that nothing had been done. We asked if it had been fixed and apparently, nothing had been done because of the cracked screen. My mom’s partner asked to speak to the Manager. After waiting for 15 minutes the Manager, Nokuphila Mbuyisa, came through to speak to us. I took off the screen protector and asked: “Does this look cracked to you!?'' The Manager gave us the Repair Slip and on it stated: Repair Action: “no response from the customer to give permission to restore the unit. Return not repaired.” Nokuphila wrote down her contact number on the Assessment note and we took the iPad with us.

I turned on the iPad and the battery was on 1 percent and has probably deteriorated because of this, and a lot of dust has accumulated inside, who knows how it has been handled, on top of it the screen with the faulty pixels has not been fixed.

We have been trying to call Makro to follow up on what happened in the last 10 weeks. We want an audit trail of the emails sent to the Core Repair Centre and to speak to the actual technician to find out why it was not repaired; however, there has been no response. Today (1 June) we called Makro four times and no answer.

I feel like I should be compensated for the time I had to wait for the iPad because I needed it for my work. As well as I should get a new one because of everything that has happened. Ten weeks of time and money wasted! This is totally unacceptable and something needs to be done about this shoddy service!