Faulty Upgrade Phone- Sony Xperia X

<p>I recently upgraded to a new Sony Xperia X phone via Vodacom's online portal (I received my phone via courier on 6 January 2017). </p> <p> </p> <p>I phoned the Vodacom Careline on 082 111 to arrange for a sim swop as my previous sim didn't fit in the new phone. After more than 24 hours had passed, my sim was still not activated, I phoned 082 111 again to enquire and the person on the line told me that there was no record of my previous sim swop on the system, but he assisted me in doing the sim swop then, which was activated soon after. </p> <p> </p> <p>My phone started giving me a few issues, didn't want to open some of the pre-installed apps, etc. I assumed it had just been a glitch and restarted my phone. After the restart the problems persisted and became more frequent. It started affecting my phone so much that it would completely freeze the phone and change the date and time, etc. with me restarting the phone more than 10 times per day. </p> <p> </p> <p>I then decided to take the phone in to a Vodacom Shop. On Saturday 14 January, I went to the Greenstone Mall Vodacom Outlet. At this stage my phone wouldn't even switch on (and it was fully charged). I arrived at 09h14, was given a ticket number at the door after I explained that my phone was faulty and that it might need to be exchanged as it was still within the 14 day return period that is advertised with the online orders. As the store was quite busy I took a seat and waited my turn. At around 10h43 my ticket number was called and I was told by the consultant that she couldn't assist me as I had the wrong type of ticket number (which had been given to me by the Vodacom store employee). Then I was placed on the back of the queue with a new type of ticket even though the error had been on Vodacom's side. After waiting about another hour I was finally helped by the technician, who reset the phone and checked that everything was up to date (which it was). I asked the technician where I needed to go if the errors kept occuring within the 14 day window of exchange period and he said that I would need to go directly to Vodaworld in Midrand as the order was placed online, they couldn't exchange the phone in store. DURING ALL OF THIS THEY NEVER EVEN ASKED MY NAME OR CONTACT NUMBER!! NOW THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY FOR YOU TO HAVE A RECORD OF WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED UP TO HERE.</p> <p> </p> <p>I went back home and within less than an hour my phone started giving me the errors again. My husband and I then drove all the way to Vodaworld Midrand (as instructed by the previous Vodacom technician) to exhange my faulty handset as per the advertised timeline of 14 days. At Vodaworld we went to the Vodacom Shop first where we were told that they can't help us, we need to go to Vodacom Worlds Customer Service and Repair Department. AGAIN NO NAMES ASKED. When arriving there after yet another wait I was helped by Ngema Ntokozo, who again referred me back to online, as they had yet another policy of return of only 7 days instead of the 14 day return policy as advertised online (I was on day 8!!!!). I checked online and lodged a complaint, where the hours for repair were stated as weekdays only and the website then referred me back to go to a retail outlet for help. (where I had already been twice on that same day). I refused to leave until they sort out my issue as my 14 day window was getting shorter by the minute, I work full time during the week and everyone keeps reffering me back and forth with no proper help given. He spoke to his manager who said that they could arrange with Vodacom Online via email to come and pick up the faulty handset from them and then Vodacom Online could replace my handset. I asked him to please cc me in the email. After his first two attempts to sent the mail had failed he managed to send it through and receive a REF number by the third attempt. I checked my mail and noticed that the mail was not through yet, waited for a few minutes refusing to leave, it still hadn't gone through yet, so I asked him to please print out a copy of the original mail and the reference number. </p> <p> </p> <p>I never heard anything back (They have alternative contact details)... Eventually I requested multiple call backs (4 seperate ones to be exact) on Vodacoms Online Portal, which promisees to phone back within 24 hours. More than 24 hours has passed. NO CALL WHATSOEVER. By 16h50 on Wednesday 18 January, 3 full working days after returning my phone at Vodaworld (with a Sunday inbetween) I had still not heard anything back. I then tried to email Ngema (the preson who helped me at Vodaworld Customer Service and his manager, the emails bounced back. Then I tried to phone Vodaworld where I asked to speak to them directly, but was told that it was impossible as they do not have a phone line and I was put through to an automated system. Then After they couldn't assist me yet again, I phoned Vodaworld again and this time they could now (not sure whey they couldn't with the previous call) put me through to Vodaworls Customer Service directly. Before I could explain the situation to them the line got cut off and when trying to call back there was no answer on the same number. </p> <p> </p> <p>NOW I HAVE NO PHYSICAL CELL PHONE TO USE AFTER UPGRADING TO A NEW >R10 000 DEVICE AND VODACOM KEEPS REFERRING ME TO SOMEONE ELSE TO HANDLE THE SITUATION. This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!</p>