Be legal wise if you have to deal with Vodacom

I bought a Hisense U963 cellphone from Take-a-Lot in February. It came with a manufacturer's warranty from Vodacom (SIM1 locked) and a defective speaker facility, causing white noise and echo on the other party's phone. After two Vodacom outlets fiddled around with SIM swaps over 6 weeks, they booked it in for assessment at their "Advanced" Repair Centre. It came back with the same problem. Sent off again, it came back minus its box and charger, with a protective gel screen fitted by the Vodacom shop st**********, and with the SIM2 slot damaged. After referring to Vodacom Customer Care twice and receiving absolutely no response, I lodged a complaint with the National Consumer Complaints Commission. To my surprise I found myself dealing with someone in the Office of the CEO. They clearly have so many complaints referred that they have set up a dedicated e-mail account to handle them ***. They proposed to send my phone off for repair AGAIN. I had to point out to them that they were in breach of the Consumer Protection Act on two counts: If a product is defective, it is the CUSTOMER'S PREROGATIVE to accept a repair, replacement, or refund. Secondly, the phone must be returned in the same condition as it was handed in. Yesterday (18 October) Vodacom was fined R1m by the Consumer Complaints Tribunal for "unconscionable conduct" over excessive contract cancellation charges. It seems, when dealing with this firm, you need to brush up on the law and cite it, or they will treat you with disdain and hope you go away. I finally received a full refund 7 months after originally reporting the defect, so there is no need for Mr Chuene to contact me again. It is a warning to customers