Cellphone OBF Refund

25 May 2021 HelloPeter

In Brief: On 16 January 2021 I purchased a Pre Paid Samsung Note 20 from Vodacom Tokai in Cape Town. The phone was faulty and I returned it to the store on the 18th January 2021, also providing the store Manager Mr Hardien with a video recording of proof that the phone was infact defective. At that point when I asked Mr Hardien for a refund , he refused, even up until today he still refuse to refund me. Thereafter, i did lodge a complaint with the NCC on the 22 February 2021, (Ref: ***) to which I received a reply on the 9th March 2021, also stating that the turn around time is about 60 days. On the 15 April I received a phone call from Noni from Vodacom CO Office saying that they have received my complaint and that within that same week the Vodacom Rep for our Area would contact me. I never heard from anybody since Noni's call. I kindly ask that you help me to get a refund as I am entitled to it under the CPA Regulation and I have already purchased another. Here follows the whole story....

On 16 January 2021, I purchased a new, NON CONTRACT Samsung Note 20 5G cell phone from Vodacom Tokai for R22 499.00 cash. The handset was opened instore and was being set up by the salesman and a Samsung agent. A short while afterwards I was informed by them that they opened the wrong box which was a Samsung Note 20 LTE and I paid for a Samsung Note 20 5G. An hour after the sale when I got home, I discovered that the phone’s touch screen was faulty. I immediately took the phone back to the store and I also took it back the next day , because on both occasions when I got to the store , I wasn’t able to replicate the fault. On the 3rd day, 18th February, I once again returned to the store and this time I was able to replicate the fault in the presence of the store Manager Mr Hardien who then booked the phone in for assessment. I also played and gave him a video which I recorded showing the malfunction of the phone. I was also of the opinion the first phone was new and was then exchanged with a second refurbished handset cause the second handset had software updates done on it from as early as May 2020. However, Mr Hardien told me that such updates are normal on new phones though I only purchased the phone in 2021. Nevertheless, the phone is still an OBF (Out of Box Failure) which warrants a customer choice of a replacement or a refund. Details of steps taken to resolve the complaint At the time when the phone was booked into the store, I told Mr Hardien that since the phone is an OBF I would like a full refund as I was within my CPA rights for a refund. He told me that Im not eligible for a refund but that the phone has to go to the repair centre. He also said that I don’t know my CPA rights and I must go read it again. Though I did not agree with what he said, I knew my only chance of keeping my 7 day OBF Guarantee alive was to have the phone booked in. Mr Hardien then also told me that he should have an answer for me by Thursday 21st January regarding the assessment. However he never made contact with so on or about the 24th January I phoned the store. The employee who answered the call informed Mr Hardien that I wanted to speak with him. The employee then informed me that Mr Hardien would return my call later that afternoon. That day I never received a call from Mr Hardien. Since Mr Hardien didn’t contact me on the 21st and 24th January as per arrangement, I decided to lay a complaint with Vodacom Head Office. After phoning several Vodacom store’s , the only contact for head office I could get was the email address – ***. I was also informed by other Vodacom branches to email my complaint to Vodacom customer care, which I did on the 25th January, to which I only received acknowledgement emails. I assume those email was probably sent to Mr Hardien. Also on the 25th January, I sent an email to Vodacom Repair Escalation putting forward my complaint and requesting a full refund. Later that day, I received an email from the repair centre informing me that the handset was still in transit. On the 26th January, I received another email from repair centre, requesting that I send them the video of the fault, thus it would seems that possibly Mr Hardien only sent the handset to the repair centre and not the video which I gave him.

Its also very pecu**** that I handed the phone back to the store on the 18th January, and it only reached the repair centre on the 26th January. About 9 days later, noting that the phone carries only a 7 day OBF Guarantee and an OBF should be sorted out in 7 working days.

So, Nine days after the handset was booked into the store, and I still didn’t hear from Mr Hardien I then sent him an email on the 27th January requesting an update. Shortly afterwards I received a call from Mr Hardien telling me that he was informed by the Repair escalation Centre that I escalated my complaint to the Repair Centre. Mr Hardien then also confirmed that the handset was sent to the repair centre and escalated to the advanced repair centre and that neither were able to replicate the fault. He also mentioned that the repair Centre tried to contact me but were unable to get hold of me, but they will try to reach me on Monday 01 February. I can honestly say that I never received a call from the repair centre neither was there a missed call on my phone and my phone is never switched off. Also, why did the repair centre not email me since they sent me an email just the previous day. Apart from acknowledgement emails from the repair centre, I didn’t receive any communication from the repair centre on or after the 01 February, despite the fact that I actually emailed them a few times after the 01 February. I also only received acknowledgement emails from Vodacom customer service centre. I assume those emails has been forwarded to Mr Hardien. I then once more told him that I want a refund but he said that he cannot refund me. Towards the end of our phone call , and since this phone call was in response to my email of the 27th, l asked Mr Hardien to send me an email transcript of the phone conversation we just had for my records . He assured me that he will email me the transcript later that day, but he never did to which I sent him 3 reminder emails thereafter. On the 29 January Mr Hardien rep**** via email referring to the phone call in question, however in the email he made no mentioned about his No Refund policy which was part of the phone call conversation. On the 04th February, I once again emailed Mr Hardien, requesting a full refund to which he only rep**** on the 09th February, however not addressing my request for a refund , but rather stating that he managed to get Samsung to honour a brand new replacement of the phone. And yet Samsung informed me on the 16th February Samsung that they had no OBF booked in at Samsung with IME Number *** at the time. So, Im not sure who’s facts are correct. Mr Hardien thereafter sent me another two emails on the 11th and 14th, still disregarding my request for a refund, and still insisting that I come and collect the new device. On 14th February, I sent Mr Hardien my last email informing him that Im not interested in taking another handset from him and that I don’t understand why he is offering me a new device when I’ve been requesting a refund on numerous occasions. The phone only reached Vodacoms Ecsalations Repair Centre nine days after I booked it back into the store and because its an OBF I believe it should have been sorted out within 7 working days.

The phone is an OBF which justifies a full refund, as I confirmed with Samsung, and it should have been sorted out within 7 working days after purchase. I believe the delay was purposely done to exhaust the 7 day OBF Guarantee period, thus hoping to avoid a refund. Im also within my CPA rights which entitles me for a full refund. Section 56 (2) of the Consumer Protection Act, No 68 of 2008 (CPA). (All relevant emails and documents are available if required.)

Kind Regards Peter Brown *** Date: 26 May 2021