Sold a Faulty Phone, Everyone Agrees its Faulty, Nobody Wants to Replace or Refund it.. Vodacom ****s its customers and ducks

I bought a phone from Vodacom at the Nelson Mandela Square branch in Johannesburg on 08/08/2024 at 18:21 while on a business trip to JHB because my phone broke. The phone is an Honor X7b. I had an 08:00 flight back to Cape Town the next morning and after purchasing the phone I realised there is a problem with it (confirmed Out of Box Failure). When back in Cape Town I took the phone, original packaging, receipts to the Blue Route Vodacom shop on 12/08/2024 (well within the contract I SIGNED that Vodacom is in breach of) where the manager assessed the phone and agreed it is OBF. He had an employee from Honor come over and he took assessed the phone and agreed it is out of box failure. The manager of the Blue Route store insisted that he can do nothing because of Vodacom's structure. I must fly to Johannesburg to solve this.

I phoned the Nelson Mandela Square branch that same day (12/08/2024) and spoke to the manager who indicated he will check with Honor what to do about this. That is odd because I bought the phone from Vodacom, not Honor. Vodacom is making their problem the customer's problem. Vodacom should just collect the phone, refund me, then give the same phone to Honor who should refund them. Very easy. The manager never got back to me.

I phoned again the following day and there was no response. I waited until 14/08/2024 and still no attempts to communicate with me, to refund me, nothing. Vodacom is clearly ducking and diving knowing they sold a faulty phone at a premium and are running away like a ****mer. Which they are based on how every step has been dealt with so far.

I then phoned the customer call centre and spent 3 hours of my airtime explaining the situation and begging for any kind of help but the call centre manager kept insisting they are not allowed to speak to any of the branches and they can get in trouble. I begged and pleaded for him to think logically that I have signed a contract with terms and conditions that speak to out of box failure, timelines etc and all is met, I have original packaging, everything, in fact the charging cables etc have not even been removed or used yet. Its all still sealed just as i received it. The logic says they can instruct the manager to collect the phone, i could drop it off at a branch here and they spent R100 to courier it (I paid R5500 - maybe they can use the money they ****med out of me?) or however they do it but I am the customer who got ******** by their faulty product and their greedy ******* approach to dealing with customers. Still, the call centre manager kept insisting he will take no action and put the blame on me as being the one who made the mistake. I have been blamed for doing business with Vodacom. Yes, I was the idiot who bought a phone from Vodacom. The call centre manager is correct. South Africa, DO NOT BUY FROM VODACOM or you too will be the idiot.

I then took to Facebook to post about this on Vodacom's page where customer service responded to me. I was asked to send the receipt, which i did, and a customer service rep phoned me and assured me this is not how Vodacom does business and OBF is a standard thing that can be sorted out. This customer rep disappeared after several days and I was once again asked to take it to a branch for the phone to be assessed. After the careless hands-off attitude of the Blue Route branch I took it to the Constantia branch where for a 3rd time this phone was assessed and AGREED OBF. They indicated this should be either a refund or they send me the same model of phone that has all its features functioning properly. The staff at Constantia got on the phone with the manager at Nelson Mandela Square and we spent 2 hours asking him how to move forward and he kept saying he is going to speak to people at Honor. Nothing ever happened. I left the store with no action, nothing done and still, the idiot who did business with Vodacom. A ****.

I have since been messaging the customer support team daily on facebook as they keep insisting the was escalated to their escalations department but nothing has happened at all. It is almost the end of the month, 20 days later, and everyone agrees this is out of box failure, i paid full price for a faulty product and I should be reimbursed...but nobody is doing anything. Everyone knows what to do, but everyone is ducking and diving. Vodacom is without a doubt the most ******* and disgusting institution of 2024. I am genuinely shocked that Vodacom will sell a faulty device, treat me like dirt, send me from pillar to post and laugh as they walk away with the money.

South Africa, do not buy anything from Vodacom. They are ****mers. Buy your phone from Takealot and use MTN, CellC, Rain...all work. I can confirm that. Vodacom however is here to grab your money and run. Stay away.