Vodacom salvaging phone without permission/more than doubling quote agreed on for repair

Vodacom job number ********** 5 My iPhone fell and the protective glass cover and cell glitter cover broke. The screen remained in tack but the glitter gel went on the phone. The LCD screen had black/green on the top left hand side. I took the phone to a Vodacom repair franchise store in a shopping mall. Their turnaround time for repair was long and advised to take it to Vodaworld for speedy recovery. I used my phone for a further three days before we could drive to Vodaworld. Everything remained fully functional except the LCD screen display.

The phone is on my husbands name. He took it to Vodaworld (phone still under warranty but warranty cannot cover as the phone fell badly). They took the phone and sent a sms to my husband to make contact to accept a quote this week Monday. Sms indicated must accept within 2 days. They quoted R1900 for repair telephonically (which I assume is recorded) to fix the LCD. He accepted the telephonic quote of R1900. He phoned me and informed me that cost to repair will be R1900. A further sms received following day 2 Aug stating phone sent for repairs and that notification of date to collect once repaired will follow. Then shortly after an sms followed stating phone has been exchanged and can be collected.

My husband phoned to follow up as we never agreed to exchange my phone. Upon making contact he was informed that the repair cost is R4900 and the Vodacom consultant insisted this was the amount agreed to from the beginning. This is not true and Vodacom should listen to their recordings. My husband proceeded to state that was never the quote agreed upon and they never emailed a quote everything was telephonic. When he insisted that the phone is returned to us the Vodacom consultant said it has already been sent to be “salvaged”.

We have had no further feedback from Vodacom other than it will be “escalated”. Given that the phone was in full working order but with a faulty LCD screen it was not a BEC phone. We never agreed on R4900 and never gave permission for the phone to be salvaged. I await feedback from Vodacom and the return of the phone (not a replacement with a charge of R4900).

It is a pity our phones are contract phones with Vodacom with such complete disregard towards process/protocols and no indication of customer centricity.