Update: WeFix has issued an update on the matter, saying the employee will not be suspended as “she followed procedure by requesting proof of purchase”.
The company claimed that proof of purchase was needed for Huawei phones under warranty.
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Original article: Independent mobile repair service WeFix has defended itself after a Twitter user made a claim of profiling.
According to Twitter user Craig Rodney, his housekeeper took her smartphone to the Northgate store for repairs. However, Rodney says she was refused help unless she could prove the device wasn’t stolen.
The Twitter user claims that when he took the phone in to be repaired, it was fixed on the spot.
The housekeeper was told that she would also need to pay a deposit for the phone to be fixed, Rodney claimed.
My housekeeper took her phone to @wefix & they refused to help unless she could prove it wasn’t stolen. I took it & they fixed on the spot.
— Craig Rodney (@Craigrodney) November 10, 2016
@wefix then said that even if she did that she would be required to pay a deposit before they would fix.
— Craig Rodney (@Craigrodney) November 10, 2016
WeFix responded to the tweet, saying the incident was “highly irregular” and that it would investigate. CEO Alex Fourie called Rodney as well, the Twitter user confirmed.
In an email response to Memeburn, Fourie said that they were investigating and combing through CCTV footage.
Fourie confirmed that the phone in question was a Huawei P8, adding they didn’t repair the phone as it was experiencing a service issue. The client was referred to Vodacom as a result, WeFix claimed.
“We’re still busy investigating. Unfortunately, as the phone was never actually booked in (neither by Craig or Stella), hence there is no paperwork for this job so getting to the bottom of the facts is a bit harder. We are however reviewing CCTV footage to get to the bottom of this,” Fourie wrote.
WeFix says that there may have been a miscommunication over whether the device was under warranty
The WeFix representative explained that there might be a misunderstanding, as the firm fixes Huawei devices that are still under warranty.
“According to the receptionist in question, she thought it was a Huawei ‘Warranty’ job which requires the proof of purchase to be presented. This is the most logical explanation for this.”
Out of warranty fixes don’t require a proof of purchase/paperwork, Fourie clarified.
The employee in question will be suspended, pending the outcome of the investigation, with the “necessary disciplinary action” taking place thereafter, WeFix told Memeburn.
Fourie added that it wouldn’t take further steps across WeFix in general, as he believes it was a one-off incident.
“We have serviced more than half a million customers and have never had an issue of profiling before so believe this was an isolated incident that probably stemmed from a misunderstanding on warranty vs out-of-warranty.”
We contacted Craig Rodney for an interview but didn’t receive a response at the time of publication.
