Very poor after sales and consumer service

I wish lodge my utmost disappointment and dissatisfaction with Telkom's after sales and consumer service. On the 15th of March 2019, I purchased a Huawei Mate 20 lite, from the Telkom store in Baywest Mall Nelson shop number LG77B. The phone contract was concluded at 5:39pm. The consultant assisting us explained all the processes and we signed the necessary forms as per her explanation. One of the points she explained was the OBF 7 day policy and the Guarantee after 7 day cool off period. Having heard her explanation, we signed the instore checklist. The salesperson explained that should the phone have any factory defects I must return the phone in 7 days. Once I return the phone in the 7 days, they will replace it. She further said that when I leave, that day counted as day one.

Happy, I went off with my new phone. Having said that, I understood that a "day" is 24 hours long. As from Tuesday my phone started freezing, I assumed that the phone is freezing due to poor network connection. So I thought I'll observe the problem and should it persist, I'll return the phone to Telkom. The problem continued further onto Wednesday. Due to the fact that Thursday was a public holiday, I thought I should bring the phone in today (Friday). To my surprise, the shop refused to exchange the phone having stated what the problem was. They said that I am one day out, meaning I've had the phone for 8 days and their policy only applies to 7 days.

Now when I asked the consultant, what constitutes a day, he could not answer me. When I asked him, does a public holiday count as a working day or business day or banking day, he merely said that they don't work like that. A Day is a day to them "Telkom".

1-Now a legal definition of a day (under common law or law of contracts), a day is defined as: a consecutive period of 24 hours. 2-According to the Public Holidays Act (Act No. 36 of 1994), 21 March is an official holiday, thus it doesn't conform to a working day under the country's labour laws. 3-According to the consumer protection act section 55 guarantees me as the consumer, the rights to return a defective product. This section guarantees that any goods or products originating from a transaction within South Africa will have a 6 months Imp**** warranty. Furthermore this section permits me as the consumer to chose whether I want the product to be repaired, replaced or refunded. It places the option solely on me as the consumer and the supplier can not force me to choice an option that best suits them. 4-A supplier return policy may not limit the right a consumer has under the consumer protection act.

When you count "day/s" in accordance to the legal definition of a day, my 7 days only ends today. Now with Telkom's definition it infringes on my right;

Consumer’s rights regarding defective goods

Section 56 Consumer Protection Act (CPA) (Imp**** warranty of quality)

The CPA imposes a built-in or automatic warranty (commonly known as a guaranty) that all goods sold comply with the requirements listed in Section 55, namely: (a) They are reasonably suitable for the purposes for which they are generally intended; (b) They are of good quality, in good working order and free of any defects; (c) They will be useable and durable (will last) for a reasonable period of time; (d) They comply with the Standards Act/ other public regulations; and (e) They are reasonably suitable for the specific purpose that the consumer has informed the supplier that the consumer wants to use them for. If the goods are not suitable for the purposes for which they are intended or otherwise fail to comply with the requirements listed in Section 55, the consumer is entitled to return them, at the supplier’s risk and expense and without penalty, and: (a) Have the item(s) repaired; or (a) Have the item(s) replaced; or (b) Get a full refund of the price paid.

IMPORTANT: The choice is the consumer’s: the supplier cannot force a consumer to opt to have the goods repaired if the consumer wants a refund or replacement. The consumer can insist on a cash refund instead of a store credit or vouchers, or on a replacement with something similar at no additional cost. The supplier must bear the costs of collecting and/ or replacing the defective goods.

The biggest problem in SA, is that corporates seek only to exploit us, especially us black people more so assuming we do not know our rights or we are unable to enforce them.

They take our business for granted, always. What material difference does a day make because 80% of sales in the retail business is based on return consumer. Now how does Telkom expect us to return to conduct future business with them if they treat consumers as single use goods. Instead of the store manager assisting me, she instead said that she will send an email to their attorney, see I took that as an imp**** threat to further surpress my right to seek recourse to have my defective phone replaced. All they cared about was their policy and what the system will say. The consults even said, if we rate their service poorly they would get warnings. So is Telkom constomer satisfaction oriented or is it a self serving company?.