Don't buy Mobicel products

Purchased a cheap smart Mobicel Shift from Ackermanns for R599 I removed my sim and now the phone is locked - I did a factory hard reset as per Android rest, however the phone stays locked. I contacted Mobicel, they say I must return the phone with the slip to Ackermanns and they will then charge me to fix - this is pathetic to be charged for a service to fix their ******* phone, they should help me fix it via phone or email