Hi All!
I need some advice on how to handle this issue with a Blackberry 9780 and VodaCare.
I upgraded on 20/04/11 and received a BlackBerry 9780. On 15/05/11 (in less than a month) the LCD Screen failed. I took it in to VodaCare on 16/05/11 where I was told that I must have cracked the LCD although there was no physical damage on the phone at all as can be noted on the job card. (VodaCare JobNo: 6703749)
I was told that “I must have dropped the phone” and since it has a plastic cover the visible damage of a dropped phone that caused the LCD crack will not be visible. It’s amazing how good VodaCare is with excuses to blame the customer. A plastic cover won’t show damage when it is dropped? Oh please....
I was told that the warranty is now voided due to the “unseen” physical damage and they will quote me for the repair...
They phoned me nearly 3weeks later with a quote of more than R2300.00! For a cracked LCD??? That’s nearly half the value of the phone. So I rejected the quote.
Since the warranty was now voided I took the phone in for repairs myself. I was quoted R750.00 which sounded more reasonable. It also took more than a week only to find out that they couldn’t fix it.
I took it to another shop, was quoted R800 this time and waited another week, also to find out they can’t fix it either.
What now bothers me is that this seems to be a bigger problem than only a “cracked” LCD. Quoting more than R2300 for a LCD is a bit high (according to me) for a phone without a touch screen. It seems to me there may have been other troubles with the phone and it was just “too easy” to shift the blame to me since VodaCare/BlackBerry are not willing to cover the costs under warranty.
Altogether I have 3 contracts with Vodacom and my Wife has 2. 5 Contracts in total and spending way over R2000.00 per month as well as many MANY years of being a loyal customer despite poor network quality in the last few months to which Vodacom has admitted with the promise of better service quality in future... I never had trouble with phones in the past, so this is a first for me.
But having to live with a broken phone for the next two years until my next upgrade will not go down well with anyone. I have been wrongly accused of damaging the phone and to now find out that no-one can fix the phone economically is of real concern to me...
Did anyone of you maybe have a similar experience and had a satisfactory outcome? I even did the upgrade after 1 April 2011 so if there is any protection for me under the new Customer Protection Act I will be glad to know how to use it! I doubt that it will be easy to enforce on them!
I don’t like referring to the CPA and fighting with companies, but this time I will have to... How does one prove your innocence when you face an emotionless VodaCare consultant who tells you that it’s YOUR FAULT - YOU MUST HAVE DROPPED THE PHONE - CRACKED LCD’s IS NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY etc etc.
I need some advice on how to handle this issue with a Blackberry 9780 and VodaCare.
I upgraded on 20/04/11 and received a BlackBerry 9780. On 15/05/11 (in less than a month) the LCD Screen failed. I took it in to VodaCare on 16/05/11 where I was told that I must have cracked the LCD although there was no physical damage on the phone at all as can be noted on the job card. (VodaCare JobNo: 6703749)
I was told that “I must have dropped the phone” and since it has a plastic cover the visible damage of a dropped phone that caused the LCD crack will not be visible. It’s amazing how good VodaCare is with excuses to blame the customer. A plastic cover won’t show damage when it is dropped? Oh please....
I was told that the warranty is now voided due to the “unseen” physical damage and they will quote me for the repair...
They phoned me nearly 3weeks later with a quote of more than R2300.00! For a cracked LCD??? That’s nearly half the value of the phone. So I rejected the quote.
Since the warranty was now voided I took the phone in for repairs myself. I was quoted R750.00 which sounded more reasonable. It also took more than a week only to find out that they couldn’t fix it.
I took it to another shop, was quoted R800 this time and waited another week, also to find out they can’t fix it either.
What now bothers me is that this seems to be a bigger problem than only a “cracked” LCD. Quoting more than R2300 for a LCD is a bit high (according to me) for a phone without a touch screen. It seems to me there may have been other troubles with the phone and it was just “too easy” to shift the blame to me since VodaCare/BlackBerry are not willing to cover the costs under warranty.
Altogether I have 3 contracts with Vodacom and my Wife has 2. 5 Contracts in total and spending way over R2000.00 per month as well as many MANY years of being a loyal customer despite poor network quality in the last few months to which Vodacom has admitted with the promise of better service quality in future... I never had trouble with phones in the past, so this is a first for me.
But having to live with a broken phone for the next two years until my next upgrade will not go down well with anyone. I have been wrongly accused of damaging the phone and to now find out that no-one can fix the phone economically is of real concern to me...
Did anyone of you maybe have a similar experience and had a satisfactory outcome? I even did the upgrade after 1 April 2011 so if there is any protection for me under the new Customer Protection Act I will be glad to know how to use it! I doubt that it will be easy to enforce on them!
I don’t like referring to the CPA and fighting with companies, but this time I will have to... How does one prove your innocence when you face an emotionless VodaCare consultant who tells you that it’s YOUR FAULT - YOU MUST HAVE DROPPED THE PHONE - CRACKED LCD’s IS NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY etc etc.
