Blackberry Support ZA - does it exist?

[Snoekie]

So onto my 3rd month with my 8900 and the trackball has stopped working, I can press the ball but cannot scroll up or down and side to side.. does not appear to be a major problem, most forums I read indicate the primary reason being some dust/dirt on the sensor requiring a light swab.. I tried cleaning with a the ball with a cloth but to no avail.. thought I would take it to vodacom who now inform me the phone must go to Johannesburg for a minimum of 2 weeks and they do not provide replacement bberry handsets.. now I have a few questions:

1) What the f*"% is in Jhb that every single handset ever to be repaired must go there?? ( i am in cpt)
2) what takes 2 weeks???
3) is it really beyond the budget of our starving service providers to establish regional phone support that does not normally end up being a month that you cannot use your phone? (and past xperience has shown that you never have one repair..it usually goes back on another repairs)
4) How do you get a hold of RIM/Blackberry South Africa? i tried searching but to no avail.
5) considering I am on the Bb server, do they re-imburse for the paymetn whilst not on the network? (that question is mostly rhetorical, SA cellphone network and reimburse are not words found in the same sentence)



any feedback much appreciated.

 

[Malasius]

Blackberry does not have any after sales support in South Africa at all. All phones are sent to JHB for "repair" by both MTN and Vodacom. I am on MTN and will have to wait 6 weeks for my phone to be replaced/repaired. You do not get any calls to inform you of anything and cannot get any information if you phone them. No loan handsets are available. And reimbursement?? are you joking? Good luck!

 

[genetic]

Doesn't the 2 year warranty cover replacement handsets? I have a 8900, and it hasn't given me a single issue ever. Great phone!

Most things go up to Johannesburg for any kind of repair. Cape Town doesn't do ****all in terms of after sales service. Multiple products, such as camera's, phones, electronics etc. Have to be courriered to JHB for repairs.

 

[oronte]

So onto my 3rd month with my 8900 and the trackball has stopped working, I can press the ball but cannot scroll up or down and side to side.. does not appear to be a major problem, most forums I read indicate the primary reason being some dust/dirt on the sensor requiring a light swab.. I tried cleaning with a the ball with a cloth but to no avail.. thought I would take it to vodacom who now inform me the phone must go to Johannesburg for a minimum of 2 weeks and they do not provide replacement bberry handsets.. now I have a few questions:

1) What the f*"% is in Jhb that every single handset ever to be repaired must go there?? ( i am in cpt)
2) what takes 2 weeks???
3) is it really beyond the budget of our starving service providers to establish regional phone support that does not normally end up being a month that you cannot use your phone? (and past xperience has shown that you never have one repair..it usually goes back on another repairs)
4) How do you get a hold of RIM/Blackberry South Africa? i tried searching but to no avail.
5) considering I am on the Bb server, do they re-imburse for the paymetn whilst not on the network? (that question is mostly rhetorical, SA cellphone network and reimburse are not words found in the same sentence)



any feedback much appreciated.

1. I'm in Durban, even people in JHB suffer the same delay.
2. It takes 6 weeks on MTN so don't complain. MTN sources a brand new handset everytime, Vodacom don't always do this so the two weeks might be to 'fix' it (I wouldn't trust Vodacare to screw in a light bulb let alone fix a phone) so watch out.
3. That would be nice, I firmly agree with you. They make so much money it wouldn't cost much to train a few people and put them in regional centres.
4. You can't, they only have a PR office who don't deal with customers (this is true throughout the world) all support is handled by the network selling the phone.
5. No (I wish, I should be getting 3 months back from MTN by now. If you have access to a phone with BB Connect then you could use that, useless as it is).