SHOCKING MISINFORMATION RE SCREEN WARRANTY

<p>Four months after entering into a contract with Vodacom Vanderbijlpark, the screen of my cell phone cracked. I took it into this store to have it repaired and a lady at the counter next to the window informed me that I should put the repair on hold until closer towards the end of the contract period, as Samsung will only replace the screen once and it may get damaged again.</p> <p> </p> <p>Subsequently, I left the store in disbelieve and feeling very dismayed. 11 Months later, with the contract period still having 9 months to run, I took the phone in again for the screen repair. This time the ladies at the counter laughed at me and totally denied the fact that any of them had turned me away from repairing the phone previously. </p> <p> </p> <p>Although the screen has a very good plasctic cover on, holding it together, it has become tired, but I have had to keep the same cover on for all this time, based on the misinformation given to me, by a representative of this store.</p> <p> </p> <p>I did contact Vodacom and spoke to a lady who initially sounded very helpful. She informed me that she had communicated with the Vanderbijlpark Vodacom store and that I should expect some form of communication from them as to a solution to the issue. After a few days she again contacted me and enquired if I had received any form of communicatin from this store. She sounded very surprised when I informed her that I had received no communication from this store. She then suggested that I should communicate with the store myself and convince them to assist me with the repair.</p> <p> </p> <p>Upon contacting this store and communicating with the Manager, it was quite clear that this store is accepting no responsibility for the misinformation given to me by one of their representatives. The only concession that they are prepared to make is to charge me R3400 for the repair, whereas the previous telephonic quote from them was round, R4000.00. </p> <p> </p> <p>But the fact is, they turned me away with their misinformation when I took the phone in for repairs within the warranty period. After Vodacom had contacted them and they had received an email from myself, detailing the events, forwarded to them from Vodacom, they made no effort to communicate with me on any level whatsoever. </p> <p> </p> <p>To get the R3400 quote out of them, was a huge argument on the phone. They claimed that they cannot give me a quote unless I book the phone in with them. By this time they have every minute detail of the phone and of the issue, but they still insisted that I must book the phone in with them, so that they can give me a quote on a new screen, which they previously quoted me on round R4000.00. This is just to inconvenience me more. I have telephonically contacted various repair outlets and after giving the phone model and information, within seconds I received a price for the replacement of the screen. </p> <p> </p> <p>It is quite clear, that on the day when I initially took the phone in for repairs, that whoever the person was who turned me away, had their own issues on hand and at that moment would not inconvenience themself in assisting me. Either that, or the person themself was not correctly informed of the warranty details. </p> <p> </p> <p>I do not have the name of this person. Generally, when you go into a store and it is very busy and you receive information from the staff in the store, you take it as it is related. Seldom does one actually ask the name of the person and get them to write down the details that was just discussed.</p> <p> </p> <p>I do recall it was a busy day and the store was full of people. The ques were long. This lady at the counter next to the window was assisting a gentelman and he turned away from the counter to do something on his phone. He was standing next to the window. I walked up and enquired from her if she was busy, because she did look very preoccupied. She said she was waiting for something, I assumed it was something to do with the gentleman who was busy with his phone and who was now waiting for me to finish so that he could talk to her again. She rep**** that it was ok for me to ask for assistance. </p> <p> </p> <p>I showed her my phone and she then told me to go and come back later towards the end of the contract period. </p> <p> </p> <p>I did not question the information given to me by this person, as I have been a customer of this store since it opened and I have always received very good service, except for this unfortunate day. I was disappointed and in disbelief with the answer that she gave me, but she made me to understand that it was for the best. I did not want to take up too much of her time as I could see was getting agitated and that clearly she had other things to do.</p> <p> </p> <p>The fact remains, I was in the store within the warranty period and the representative of the store told me to put the repairs on hold until closer towards the end of the contract period.</p> <p> </p> <p>The result of this most unfortunate situation is that the Vanderbijlpark Vodacom store, apart from not communicating with me, have totally exonorated themselves from any responsibility as a result of the actions of one of their staff and I have to foot a bill of round R4000 to have the screen repaired.</p> <p> </p>