Faulty Phone, Further Damages through repairs at VODACOM 4U Gardens Center

Report on behalf of my father who has been a customer of Vodacom for the last 10 years.

On 30/01/2020 I entered into a Vodacom Contract for a Huawei Y9 Prime 2019 Smartphone. After two weeks of use the following occurred: -The device would get stuck in the loading screen -Randomly and continuously restarts on its own -Unable to pick up/identify the device when plugged in to a PC -The device was unstable, unreliable and unusable for long periods of time -The only short term fix at this time was a factory reset. My device had multiple factory resets leaving me very unsatisfied, even software updates won't update properly because it'd get stuck on that update screen too.

At this point we were in a nationwide lockdown. Once restrictions were lifted and Covid levels were dropping I went to take my phone in for repairs on 28/11/2020 at Outlet Name: Vodacom 4u Gardens Centre. Physically, the phone was in perfect condition, with the only fault being the software/software related issues in this case. I was informed the device would be ready for collection in 7 days. After 7 days lapsed, I called multiple times to follow up. Each time the response was that they would contact me and provide feedback. No contact was made unless initiated by me. Overall poor customer service.

On the 23/12/2020 I was informed that phone was ready for collection. I was told components were replaced and I was allowed to inspect the device.It was here that I had noticed the phone was completely mishandled. The phone was dirty and thick dust accumulated in the charging ports. The device now had multiple deep scratches on the back glass which was not present before as well as a chipped glass in the corner of the screen. I was unable to test the device in store because VODACOM did not even update to the latest software and when attempting to do so in store the Vodacom wifi was very slow, 1megabit per/second and it was a 3gb update. The phone was immediately returned for repairs.

The device is currently still in repairs with no feedback after following up multiple times. For the entire duration of the contract the phone was in an unusable state. I am paying for a new device but it was clearly faulty out of box and this was then followed by further negligence and mishandling by your repair department. I am unsatisfied with not only the product received but also the poor service being provided. The lack of concern and customer care is appalling. The device is being repaired for 3 months now. 9 months out of the 12 contracted months so far was unusable.

I am paying for a new, fully functioning and undamaged device, this is what I expect to receive. I now know that this was was an out of box failure, however due to Covid related risks I was not able to act immediately. The repair process has left the device in a far worse condition that what it had been before sending the device to Vodacom 4u Gardens Centre. Please rectify this it is beyond disappointing.