Maureen Marud
19 May 2005
Today, exactly a month after his five-day-old Moto-rola cellphone went in for repairs, Yuesrey Abrahams of Cape Town will get a brand-new, replacement phone.
"I have Argus Action to thank, along with my refusal to accept the kind of service I was getting," a jubilant Abrahams said yesterday when the authorised repair centre for Motorola told him a new phone would reach him this morning.
Abrahams had complained that his Motorola V620 had to be sent away for repairs only five days after he got it from the MTN franchise store at the Waterfront. He was still waiting, nearly a month later, for its return.
"The MTN franchise at the Waterfront gave me a contract phone that is commonly known as an OBF, which stands for 'out of box failure'." Abrahams said.
After signing a 24-month contract in April, he had charged the phone for 16 hours and the Bluetooth headset for a further six hours.
But he could not receive calls. On the fifth day after getting the phone, he had taken it back to MTN.
"I thought I was at fault and returned to MTN for instructions. But someone at the store put her own SIM card into the phone, and found it was dropping calls."
Instead of being given another phone, he was told the faulty one had to be repaired, as it was outside the warranty period of five days or 15 minutes' airtime.
"I was still within the five days, but already had 21 minutes on the phone."
He had been waiting ever since for his phone to be repaired. The franchise could not supply a loan phone.
"The term OBF, which I have learnt since dealing with the MTN franchise, sounds like this is an everyday occurrence, and the poor customer has to wait forever for the phone to be repaired," said Abrahams.
"The irony is that Motorola boasts about their phones being tested for four months before being packed and shipped, which Motorola claims is equivalent to 10 years' use under normal circumstances, or words to that effect.
"Well, my phone must have been overlooked when the testing was going on, and I suspect others were too."
Abrahams said the MTN franchise had refused to cancel the contract, which he now regretted ever having considered.
"My previous pay-as-you-go phone cost R490, worked perfectly, and all I ever had to do was buy airtime. I wish someone had warned me about the trouble that comes with contracts."
"My advice to other pay-as-you-go customers is to value their independence and the fact that they can sleep at night."
Motorola responded immediately after being contacted by Argus Action.
Jacky Humphries, Moto-rola's marketing and business development director, said the complaint was not brought to the company's attention before that.
"Motorola sincerely regrets that Mr Abrahams' experience has not been very positive. We take matters such as these very seriously and have resolved the issue for the customer."
Motorola's authorised repair centre confirmed yesterday it had been instructed to replace the phone with a new one, and to courier it to Abrahams immediately.
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