Telkom Kenilworth Centre 3A Ground Floor

The 1 year warranty on my HP laptop, which was purchased at Telkom in Kenilworth Centre Cape Town, expired on Sunday 17 January 2021. Some of the keys on my laptop stopped working (this was the only thing wrong with my laptop) so I called Telkom on either Thursday 14 January 2021 or Friday 15 January 2021 to enquire about this. The lady that I spoke to said that I should bring the laptop in and that I don’t need to hand it in with the box. I took it in on Friday 15 January 2021 with the charger but without the box. I handed it in to Qaasim Town who told me that I needed to hand the box in as well. I took the box in the next day, Saturday 16 January 2021 and he said that it was okay as it was still within the warranty period. I was told that the laptop would take about 2 weeks to repair.

About 2 weeks later I contacted the store and spoke to the manager as Qaasim was off. The manager told me that it usually takes up to 21 working days to get it back. I waited until just after 21 working days and then called Telkom again. Qaasim told me that the warranty company sent my laptop back to the store without fixing it as the rule is that the laptop needs to be sent to the warranty company 3 days before the 1 year warranty date. I was not aware of this and neither was he. I felt that this was really unfair. Qaasim disputed the matter with the warranty company and they agreed to fix it.

This matter has been going on ever since. I have been calling the Telkom store for months, dealing with Qaasim Town, and trying to contact the warranty company multiple times, trying get this matter sorted. It’s always me that has to make the calls. Telkom, as well as the warranty company, never bothered to call me to keep me updated nor did they make the effort to speed up the process.

This laptop is on contract and every month I have to pay for it even though I have been without it for 6 months now. About a month or two ago Qaasim called me to say that the laptop is fixed and that I need to collect it at a different location as they cannot use a courier company to get it back to the store for whatever reason. I told him that I do not have transport to collect it at a different location and that he needs to sort it out. I have not heard from him ever since.

I have been given the runaround for far too long and I will not pay for that contract until I receive my laptop. I also want to be reimbursed for the months that I have paid and did not have my laptop. This has caused a great inconvenience in my life as I work during the day and am a part-time student. Many tasks that are required of me to complete requires me to have a laptop. Not having my laptop has incurred extra costs such as using the internet café and the transport cost to actually get there, etc. This is each and every time that I need to complete a task. I also want to be reimbursed for these extra costs.

The service that I have received from Telkom is utterly disgusting. I’ve had my fair share of “not so perfect” customer service but this is by far the worst that I have ever experienced. It’s as if the customer is not even a priority. (The above is a letter that I previously emailed to Telkom as a complaint on 14 July 2021. Nothing was done about it. The people at Telkom who I dealt with was Sinovuyo, Qaasim Town and Sulaiman.)

I was finally able to fetch my laptop today, 06 October 2021. I collected it from Pinnacle in Montague Gardens and I collected it from Princess. I asked her if the laptop with the charger was in the box and she said that it was. When I arrived home and opened it I then saw that the drive was packed separately from the laptop and I have no idea how to put it in. The charger was also not in the box. I called Princess and she said that Telkom did not book the charger in. How long is this going to go on for? Telkom needs to compensate me for this ******* big time!