Apalling Customer Service

<p>I signed a new contract on the 8th of April for the Sony Experia M4 which was on promotion in April. I received the handset and after trying to use it on the very first day I received it the screen would not work.</p> <p> </p> <p>After calling the store to report this I was told to come in to determine if it was an OBF(Out of box failure) I'm quite certain that a technician was not needed to determine that. I was told that they could try to repair it at the Vincent branch and because I was leaving for Cape Town in a few days I decided to take it to the Vincent branch as there was a chance it was a software problem which could be repaired. Ultimately it was a waste of my time the repair was not possible and I was left without a phone which was a big inconvenience as I was expecting to have a new phone for my trip. I was told that they would send my phone to a Cape Town store. I was irate but did not have a choice but to accept the stores policy apparently. However the contract I signed states that for an OBF I am supposed to get a brand new phone.</p> <p> </p> <p>Either way I did not receive my phone until 3 weeks later which worked for a few day and then switched off randomly for 24 hours even though it had a battery life of 90 percent. The phone only switched back on the next day but clearly it is not in suitable working condition. I e-mailed the store and Vodacom customer care as well who both told me to bring the phone back to the store without any indication of how they plan to resolve the issue except perhaps give me the run around for the 2nd time as this is the 2nd faulty phone that they have given me.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Furthermore I have been hearing that the Sony Experia has been giving major issues for a while now and would like to know why Vodacom and other cellular networks are still marketing and selling products which they are fully aware of having defects. This is clearly ********* business practice and they seem to be getting away with it.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Still waiting for Vodacom to provide me with a fully functional and defect free handset. Will be cancelling my contract and moving to another network if they are unable to resolve the issue. </p>