Comments on: Why you probably shouldn’t buy an HTC phone in South Africa.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:04:32 +0000

I’ve cracked my HTC HD2 Touch screen. Phoned Lab88-apparently they don’t do repairs anymore. They gave me a number in Midrand to phone. Number just rings. I’ve had the phone for over a year now. I love the phone but Leaf’s service in general sucks. I love the HTC, but will never buy one again as long as Leaf are the sole distributors as they simply cannot give reasonable service.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:46:33 +0000

I had Desire which initially didnt have gingerbread. After a month or two I had it upgraded at Leaf. Took 10min hassle free. I have always had good service from Leaf since the days of IMATE. I am now using a HTC Sensation and hoping HTC will release 4.0 for this handset. Leaf does not have a long history of stuffing up android phones.

By: Eraser

Eraser — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:27:17 +0000

Interresting opinion I must say…

I would really promote the HTC phones above any of the rest out there – I got the first Android phone the HTC Hero and it has been fantastic since I bought it (in South Africa).
Like any other phone it does have hickups.

Regarding the Firmware update- I called the HTC Leaf shop- now called LAB88- many times over to try and get my phone upgraded to newer versions, and to my dismay they gave me much like you the same crap – no they can’t,
but end last year , I went to a HTC exhibition stall at a Mobile exhibition day and I complained to the guy there , and to my surprise he told me that he can do it for me on the spot 10 minutes. He also told me that it was weird that the shop told me all the crap. Anyway He updated my phone to version 2 and man was I happy , lots of bug fixes.

Ok , so that was number 1 , secondly the support when I went to the HTC shop. Absolutely brilliant!
- My phone was giving issues with the bottom touch interface , it frustrated me as it to a point where I couldn’t use it anymore. So I took it to Vodacom , which
service sucks as they always take a month and not 2 weeks to return my phones, and the Vodacom service guy said, well what Vodacom does with HTC phones is send it to HTC in anycase, so I might as well take it to them straight which would save time on the sending it away and receiving it. So I went to the HTC shop called LAB88 and
they straight away told me that it was the bottom panel that has gone(broke) and that they need to send it off to
get repaired , but surprise number 2 , it will only take 7 days, Brilliant! So I waited and 5 days later I got called to come and collect – Awesome! Got there expecting to pay R1000 bucks like vodacom would charge and the Customer service rep tells me, No it is covered by the 2 year warranty.
And so I was happy again.
Unfortunately this panel isn’t built very well on the HTC Hero, so a few days ago I returned it again as it was starting to give me issues again, – this time 3 days and they replaced it for free again just before the warranty expires. Absolutely Brilliant service!
But as an extra I asked the guy in store about the firmware upgrade and he said they do it there instore while you wait 15 min.

My friend has had HTC phones for the past 4 years – and he has stuffed up one by himself and they replaced it for free and he still loves the HTC phones as well.

As for buying a HTC phone – Best phone overall and best Customer Service!

Sometimes it help going into the store than rather calling/emailing and talking to some appi that has no idea of whats going on in the world.

:-) Eraser

By: LINDA

LINDA — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:23:47 +0000

After months of shopping around for a business and lifestyle type of phone, i got the HTC Desire HD. Awesome, unlimited contact book _ currently 2580 contacts, emails accounts and diaries synced frm four domains outlook, yahoo, msn, gmail. it also syncs tweeter/facebook/google+. battery is a bit weak but this phone works for my road warrior lifestyle, i couldnt ask for more.

By: Mike Nixon

Mike Nixon — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:58:38 +0000

Further to my post of Aug 24th: I sent my HTC back to Leaf on Aug 26, even offering to pay to have it repaired. Their response was: “not economically viable to repair, we will ship it back to you”. As of 26 Sept, I haven’t received the phone back. It was 8 months old when it packed up. I’ve now got a Motorola MB525, it works like a charm, & I for one will never touch HTC again, or purchase anything from CAPI :-/

By: Tim Oakes

Tim Oakes — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:48:40 +0000

Flash a custom ROM and you will be current, duh! I have an HTC HD2, a win mobile ph, and it’s running the latest version of Android, always. I update it at least a few times a month.
The Android market can be manually installed by getting the .apk
Check out xda developers on the web!!!!
As a techy you should know better.

By: Mike Nixon

Mike Nixon — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:00:47 +0000

I bought my HTC from the CAPI store at OR Tambo Airport in Sept 2010. Motherboard died on me in May this year. Before even thinking of buying an HTC Desire, google “HTC Desire will not start” & see just how many are suffering from an obvious factory fault on the motherboard. FYI serial no. range affected seems to be HT02… to HT08. Don’t expect any help from Leaf if your phone dies because of this factory fault!

By: dave

dave — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:44:46 +0000

Thanks for that update, I have a HTC Hero and I too had problems and tried to upgrade and download limited software, It now seems that some of the software had adds on it.

I need to upgrade in the next 2 months and will be goint to the Samsung Galaxy 2……

Thanx for messing things up Leaf ! Its going to cost you on the long run!

By: arbitraryuser

arbitraryuser — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 07:01:07 +0000

@clive All the phones I know of now have the full market.

By: Clive

Clive — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:13:23 +0000

i an interested in buying an HTC phone in South Africa. Does it have the full Android Market or are the phones still crippled by Leaf July 2011?