POWERUP POWER STATION- ****ED OFF

Earlier this year I purchased a PowerUp 300W UPS portable Power Station. In mid March I was contacted by Imaan.J via email to advise that the unit had been recalled and I had to advise whether I wanted a refund, credit or swop. I indicated that I wanted a replacement product as I did not want to be without a power station and if I accepted the refund, it would cost me more than my initial purchase as the prices of the products had since increased. Imaan.J then advised that the stock would be arriving at the end of March and I should expect a swop in the first week of April. By the end of the first week in April, I had received no further communication, even though I had been sending Imaan.J numerous emails that seemed to bounce back to me without any responses. My husband then contact the call centre for an update, only to be told that the query with Imaan.J had been closed as resolved and that was why I was not getting any feedback. How could the query be resolved when I was still sitting with a defective product? The second person then logged the return and confirmed that if I had not called in no one would come to collect. Again, I indicated during this conversation that I wanted a SWOP, and the agent indicated that she had noted that on the system, even though this was not standard practice, but because my service had already been compromised she was going to arrange it. As this was a Thursday morning before the Easter Weekend, the swop would only take place on the Tuesday and in the interim I was provided with a reference number to put on the packaging when returned. After the call ended I received the reference number as promised, MRRN-Z8AKA-7P78. later during the day I received another reference number for the same product, which I ignored, MRRN-AA9OE-NRZA. On Tuesday as promised the delivery man arrived to collect the recalled unit, however, he did not come with a replacement. When I enquired, he indicated that he was only told to collect 2 units, it was then that I realised the duplication and I told him I only had 1 unit. The delivery man left with my product and said he would enquire with regard to the SWOP but that I should also contact the call centre. The following day the same delivery man arrived to collect the same duplicated product recall number, which i explained again was a duplication.

It is 17/4 today, I have contacted the call centre again on Thursday 13/4 only to be told by Chesray at the call centre that they do not have stock indicated on the system, but he will raise the incident with other recalls department as they might be holding onto the stock for the affected customers. Chesray indicated that if I did not receive a response to my call which he had logged, in 24hrs I should follow up on the email that he was going to copy me in on. Off course I did not receive a reply and the following day, I followed up, again with no reply.

This morning I received the following email from Insauf.S "Hi Zulpha Thank you for reaching out and I do sincerely apologize for the delayed response. In reference to your email related to the [roduct recall matter. this was specifically imp[licated for products supp**** by Syntech and this was the reason why we had to have those units returned so that we could facilitate replacements, credits or refunds ( based on customers' request for an outcome)

As an in-house process, I understand that credit was allocated to your profile after we had received the unit and was accepted on our end. I then saw that there was a new order placed on 16/04/2023 under Order *** for a different unit,Lava Fusion 300W/296WH Portable Power Station that was supp**** by a different seller Elite Shopper. In relation to the replacements from the supplier where this recall had been implemented, further testing was required with Test Africa in order for the stock to be approved for release to process replacements for our impacted customers. We are currently still waiting on stock to arrive from Syntech. As I do also understand the requirement and urgency for a unit as such due to aggressive Loadshedding implications, I do understand why you had placed a new order. "

No one ever indicated further testing, if i had been told that with my initial interaction with Imaan.J and advised of a timeline of I DONT KNOW WHEN, my response would not be to wait for a product that would never come.

In the interim, Eskom has been blasting us with 4hr loadshedding slots like it is no one's business and I am sitting without a power station. I then purchased another unit on the Takealot website on Sunday for more money on 16/4 as it indicated next-day delivery, only for me to get to the last screen where i was told i would only get it on Thursday.

I am a very ****ed off consumer without electricity and without a power station.