Netstar technician damaged my vehicle

Netstar messed my car up when installing a new tracking unit, and I had to pay for an auto-electrician to fix what they broke.

On 2025-09-30 Netstar contacted me offering to upgrade my tracking unit. On 2025-10-01 a technician installed the new unit at my place of work. As I drove home that night I encountered intermittent problems with my electrical system. I immediately contacted the technician who came to look at the problem, but he couldn't locate it, and the symptoms didn't occur while he looked at the car.

The problems continued intermittently. My speedo wouldn't work. My wipers would stop working in the middle of a thunderstorm. My automatic gearbox would switch gears unexpectedly.

Eventually in frustration I called a private auto-electrician to look at my car on 2025-11-07. He spent two hours looking at the car, only to find that the problem was simple: A loose earth linkage between the battery and the body. It would appear that the Netstar technician didn't re-affix it properly after he removed and re-installed the battery as part of the fitment process. It cost me R1,200 for the auto-electrician to locate and fix this failure.

On 2025-11-11 I contacted Netstar to ask if they would reimburse me for my out-of-pocket expenses fixing damage their technician had caused. After a brief back-and forth, the last communication I had with them was 2025-11-18. They neither approved nor denied my claim: They just went quiet.

I have given them numerous opportunities and over three months to respond. I sent one more angry message on 2026-01-09 and still haven't heard back from them. In that message I threatened to leave a negative review on this site, and now I am carrying through my promise.