Poor customer experience with Vodacom and Samsung

On 24 February 2019 we upgraded my wife’s phone at Vodashop Key West to a new Samsung J6. Since the start the phone gave problems, screen freezing, jumping around between Apps etc. Since my wife is unable to drive we just missed the deadline for the out of box replacement and handed the phone in for checking/repairs on 4 March 2019 also at the Vodashop at Key West. The previous phone she had (Samsung Galaxy A3) was still working fine but the battery was giving problems. We then learned that the battery for this phone is integral to the phone and also has to be sent away to be replaced. We are not impressed with Samsung for this poor design feature. We then had to purchase another phone at a cost to us of R 1700 for her to use, instead of only a new battery, while her new phone was in for assessment as she cannot be without a phone. The replacement phone also gave problems with intermittently not being able to make and receive calls or Whatsapp messages. The Vodashop at Key West then established that the SIM card was faulty, which was not picked up the salesperson or technicians at either Key West or Grove Mall in Pretoria where we purchased the second phone, and a SIM swop had to be done. The excellent service by Tshepo at Key West is appreciated amidst the other poor service all round. My wife was then informed that there is a technical problem with her new contract phone and there is a charge of R 373.00 to repair/replace it. They then wanted us to provide the contract for the new phone which Key West had promised to send and had not sent for a warranty repair. The sales manager at Key West was requested to provide the contract to the repairer but two days later this appears not have been done and a second person also ordered us to pay the repair costs for the brand new defective phone. We are still waiting for an answer. Under no circumstances will we pay for any repair costs for a defective brand new phone.

After 3 weeks a routine upgrade of a phone on contract has turned into a most unsatisfactory customer experience and is still not resolved.