Samsung GOOD, Vodacom BAD

<p>I have been a customer of Vodacom's for over 10 years. My Samsung Galaxy Note 5, approximately 6 months old recently lost the ability to charge and died. This prompted me to take it to Vodacom Repair shop for a repair under the warranty. I took it to Vodacom repair shop at Fourways Mall. After booking the phone in I was assured that this would take up to 7 working days for repair.</p> <p>After 7 working days had passed I had not heard from Vodacom. When I tried to phone the branch the number just rang with no answer. So I went to the store. During the 7 days that I waited, I did received numerous SMS updates which said “waiting for parts”.</p> <p>The feedback I received was that the phone was water damaged and the warranty will not cover the repair. They quoted me R1500 for the repair. When I asked for proof, the technician showed me a picture on his phone that he said he had taken. I then asked him to please show me on my actual phone. He returned with my phone which was opened up and there was no evidence of water damage. The picture that he showed me was different to the inside of my phone.</p> <p>The technician then showed me an area on the phone that had some ‘white dirt’ which he said would render the warranty void. I rejected the quote and asked for my phone back. When he handed me the assembled phone I noticed that the power button was now ‘stuck’ and the front LCD was damaged. These problems did not exist prior to my visit. When I confronted the technician about the damage that they had caused, he denied it and argued that “it was already like that”. I was then forced to pay R57 for the quote rejection.</p> <p>I have never experienced such poor service from an organisation before. It felt like they were trying to find every reason NOT to repair my phone and try make money off me. It puzzles me that the fact that the phone was not charging can be attested to water damage with no evidence thereof.</p> <p>I took my phone to the Samsung repair store at the Wedge Shopping centre in Rivonia. What a pleasurable experience. I was quickly greeted at the front desk and sent to a technician. I relayed the particulars of the phones faults and checked my phone in. I was even offered coffee </p> <p>In 3 days I received a call that my phone was ready for collection. Upon collecting the phone, Samsung in fact confirmed that the phone had NO WATER DAMAGE and the charging port was simply faulty. They replaced the charging port at no cost. The damage to the power button and LCD Screen THAT VODACOM CAUSED was also repaired by Samsung at no cost. Samsung confirmed that there was no water damage and could not understand why Vodacom wanted to charge me for the repair.</p> <p>I will NEVER deal with Vodacom repair shops in future as they leave me feeling like they will make every excuse and lie to make me pay for repairs unnecessarily. I will gladly make use of the Samsung repair shop again as the customer service was phenomenal and they gave me the sense that they had my interests at heart and wanted to ‘go the extra mile’ to ensure I was a happy customer</p> <p>#vodacom #samsung #samsungsa @Vodacom @Samsung South Africa @Samsung Mobile South Africa</p> <p> </p>