A GUARANTEE is no GUARANTEE at Vodacom

I bought an Iphone at V&A Waterfront Vodacom store on the 30th April 2017. On the 28th Aril 2018 the phone stopped powering on. I went to the De Waterkant Vodacom store who advised me to go to the Apple Doctor in Seapoint. It didn’t sound right since the phone was still under guarantee so I went back to the V&A Vodacom. V&A Vodacom send me to Apple next door where I waited 1 week for an appointment. Apple said the warranty lies with Vodacom and send me back to Vodacom who said the warrantee lies with Apple and so on and so forth. Finally V&A Waterfront Vodacom agreed that my phone stopped working prior to the warranty expiring and send the phone in for repairs. 2 weeks later I receive a sms that the phone is ready to be collected. Back at V&A Vodacom they knew nothing about the phone and promised to call. Another week went by before a person from the repairs center called with a quote. I argued that the phone was still under warranty and was referred back to V&A Vodacom. V&A Vodacom who told me to call the repairs manager. The repairs manager said the phone was out of warranty by over a month. I explained that I have been given the run around by V&A Vodacom for the past month so obviously now the phone was out of warranty. Several phone calls later the manager at the V&A Waterfront and repairs manager again agrees that the phone was under warranty and the repairs center has to look at it. A week later the repairs manager calls again with no recollection of our conversation and we go through the whole story again. Finally after 4 weeks at the repair center the repairs manager tells me the phone is not repairable and admits that during the 6 weeks I was given the run around the phone corroded and my data could have been saved had they acted sooner. All the photos of my recent trip to India gone. He promised to send the phone together with a service report back to the V&A to collect. The repairs manager also insisted that their process is very fast and this was the normal time frame for repairs. Back at V&A to collect my phone of course they know nothing about it and promise to call. 2 months later no phone, no retrieved data, business as usual at V&A Waterfront Vodacom where no one could be bothered to try.