Extremely Poor Customer Service

I bought my Samsung cellphone online at some dealer, but cannot remember exactly which one. So when it started giving problems after >1½ years, I wrote an e-mail to the address given on the invoice which had accompanied the phone, since it was clearly that of the supplier to the online store. Someone responded by saying that I should take it to a cellphone store (with its proof of purchase) to have it checked by a technician.

That I did a few days later, and sent the report to the supplier. No response. 5 days later I sent it again, and again I received no response. Yet another 5 days passed, then I wrote to him again, referred to the report I'd sent and asked him to respond to my e-mails.

Only then (after 3 e-mails over 15 days) did someone respond, this time another person. And he told me again to take the phone to a cellphone shop and have a technician draw up a report. Clearly he had not bothered to read and see that I'd already sent it.

I responded by asking why I was being sent around in circles, after I'd already done what I'd been asked to do. No response ...

Last week I traveled to Cape Town and went to the Samsung centre personally, where I was helped efficiently, and my phone is now working perfectly again.

I learned a lesson: Rather pass by the suppliers and go straight to the source / manufacturer (e.g. Samsung) if at all possible, because some suppliers are clearly not interested in helping, only selling. If they had directed me to Samsung in the first place, it would've helped a lot. But they just wasted my time and sent me in circles … Another 13 days have now passed, and I'm yet to get a response. A whole month has been wasted of the few months left of my phone's guarantee. At least I now managed to bypass them, but as far as they're concerned, I'm still waiting for them to help me ...