Telkom laptop - non-existent after market service

My mother-in-law took out a laptop contract from Telkom towards the end of November 2016. Less than a month with the laptop, she experienced problems with the unit. We have been battling Telkom since early 2017 to get the matter resolved. When she returned to Cape Town for holiday in December 2016, she took the laptop to the Telkom store where she was told to contact a 3rd party who deals with laptop warranties. The 3rd party would collect the device from your house (hence me) as my mother-in-law returned home. The laptop was collected by a courier company early in Jan 2017. After a few weeks (towards the end of March 2017), I followed up with the 3rd party vendor on the progress of the repair. On enquiry, I was informed that they send a quote to reload the software - to the incorrect email address. To my shock I received a quote for R848 to re-load the software on a brand new device as the warranty does not cover software. I outright received to pay. I then got Telkom involved. And what a struggle it has been. I could not find any Telkom department nor official who works with laptop repair / warranty matters. I then went back to the Telkom store where the device was procured, and consulted the shop manager. I copied the Telkom team in on all correspondence with the 3rd party vendor. The store manager then escalated the matter. I intermittently followed up with Telkom on progress. May became July, July became November. Before I knew it, it was December 2017. No progress what so ever. To my shock I discovered that the 3rd party vendor s****ped the laptop to recover his assessment cost - a few hundred rand I think. That for me was the cherry on the cake after being understanding all along. The vendor off course had an attitude and did not see any harm in what he has done - selling a brand new laptop at a fraction of the price to cover his costs, knowing what the situation is. Since December 2017, I have been trying to recover my mother-in-law's monthly subscription fees as well as compensation for the stress and costs associated with dealing with this matter. We are now in May 2018, a further 6 months down the line with no word from Telkom. It is 18 months since the laptop contract was taken out, with no real benefit from the device. This should be a warning to consumers out there wanting to buy a Telkom laptop. Do not just look at the so called good deals, after sales service is non-existent. Not even Telkom themselves have been able to sort this out. No one in Telkom knows what to do. I even went to other Telkom stores to enquire about buying a laptop and the after-market services, which went back to the same dead-end - a 3rd party vendor who act like a law unto themselves. I somehow got the sense that the Telkom staff were aware of the poor service from the 3rd party, but there was nothing that they could do as it was the appointed vendor.