Horror story of VFS bad service

I have lived in South Africa for eight years and have had all my previous permits run successfully until VFS Cape Town came into the picture. If I had to add, this would be done with the minimum fee of the application. Unlike VFS who charge exorbitant fees which I had to pay twice as my first application was declined for a requirement that was not applicable to my SA life partner permit. Like always I scrutinized the whole list of requirements and made sure my application fulfilled all the requirements to the tee. <br> <br> VFS informed me that the only way to get this matter sorted was to lodge an appeal, even though the mistake was made by home affairs. This meant I had to pay another fee of R1350, which would not be reimbursed. <br> I made my appeal October of 2014 and have sent numerous emails to VFS Cape Town and have received the most vague and unhelpful response just stating when my application was sent to Home Affairs. My 7 month old baby doesn't have a birth certificate because of the delay of my permit. VFS have informed me that there's nothing else they can do besides forwarding my emails to home affairs. VFS take no responsibility and refuse to be of any help whatsoever.