Failed cellphone software upgrade

On Friday 12 January 2018, I took my phone, Samsung galaxy Note 4 to a Vodacom outlet/ repair centre in Kimberley for a software upgrade. The lady took the phone to the technician to ascertain whether they would be able to work on it as it had a crack on the screen, and the technician confirmed that they would be able to upgrade the software. I was then told to pay R 216 for that, which I did, and I was told to fetch it after an hour since that is how long it takes for such.

On my return to collect the phone, I was initially told (by the lady) that they could not upgrade the software on the phone, and that the phone switches on and displays the Samsung welcome logo, but would not boot beyond that point, so she was instructed to refund me. My question then was what was I supposed to do with a phone that was not working, when I brought it in while in it's working condition.

Because she could not answer all my questions, I then requested the lady to get the technician to come and explain the problem to me, and when he arrived, he told me that they could not upgrade the software on the phone, and when I asked what the problem was or could have been, he told me it could be the crack on the screen. When I asked why did they agree to accept the phone for a software upgrade as it was, he then changed his story and told me it could have been a number of things that led to the failure of the software upgrade, and that it could also have been the min board.

At this point, i got agitated because I got the impression that he did not know his story, and that he was speculating, and I even mentioned to him that he should not speculate but give me answers that made sense, especially him being the technician. He (the technician) then took the phone with him to the back, and shortly called the lady on the front desk to fetch the phone, and she still told me the same story that she had to refund me since the software upgrade was not a success.

I then requested the lady to get me the manager, who also took her time to attend to me, and when she finally did, she told me that there was nothing they could do, either the mother board or the screen on my phone is a problem, so if I wanted to have the issue resolved, they would have to replace the mother board on the phone, which would then cost me R 4500. I then told her that not only do I not have the money, but I am not willing to pay for a problem that never existed when I brought in the phone, which they are also not even certain about, but rather choose to speculate. On the other hand, the implication was that I should just take the phone and leave them in peace. I told her that I could not come to their store with a phone that was working, and leave with the phone that was not working, and after a long deliberation, she indicated that her manager was not around, and would only be back on Monday 15 January 2018, so I needed to give her until Monday so as she can present my matter to her manager and we can take it from her. i then made her aware that I needed. She further indicated that that could also mean that they replace the motherboard and give me some kind of discount, to which i responded that I would have to think about since I was not prepared to take responsibility for what went wrong with my phone, and that all that I wanted was to leave the store with a working phone like it did when I got there.

Lastly, we also had to intensely deliberate the issue of a loan phone, which was also a problem. When she finally agreed to give me one, she wanted to give me an ordinary (not a smartphone) phone, and I indicated to her that I needed a phone that I could use as a modem to connect my PC to the internet, as I am currently working on a project that is due for submission on Monday 15 January, and the project as well as its submission takes place online , she then agreed to give me a loan phone until Monday when she would present the matter to her manager, and we can then take it from there.