Return Policy

Please refer to the My Products & Warranties section for more information on a particular product that you have already purchased.

Depending on the reason for the return, the following general rules apply:

Faulty goods under warranty:

  • The customer must prove that a product is defective
  • Should the customer require technical assistance in determining if the product is faulty he/she may either acquire the service of a qualified technician or ask us to assist to ship the product from him/her to the relevant repair centre. Our supplier may request that we charge a technical inspection fee to a maximum of R350 which is fully refundable if the product is found to be faulty.
  • Statutory warranty for six months: We warrant all our new products against any defects for six months of normal household use, from the time we supplied the product. This is the statutory warranty in terms of the Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (the CPA) Section 56 (2).
  • Statutory compensation: We will repair, replace or refund the price of any defective product that our customer returns to us during the six month statutory warranty.
  • Within the six months statutory warranty we will arrange a courier to collect the goods from the customer. All shipping costs involved are paid by us, including the re-shipping cost for the goods once repaired or replaced. However for products less than R500 we will request the customer to post the product to us via South African Post Office services with economy service. The customer should email us scanned invoice so we can reimburse them. Also if the customer is in remote area we may request that the customer pays the difference between what we will contribute to free shipping and what the real cost of shipping is.
  • Should no fault be found with the product, the customer remains liable for the shipping/postage fee in both directions.
  • After the first six months of statutory warranty as per the CPA section 56 (2) any express warranty or condition stipulated by the importer, distributor or retailer applies as per section 56 (4) (b). This means that the final decision for the swap out/ repair/ refund is made by our suppliers. However if we feel that our supplier has been unfair we will assist in trying to resolve the problem in your favour. In case of Motherboards & Graphics Cards a refurbished unit is given as replacement, and not a new one.
  • In case of refund our supplier may or may not refund only a portion of the initial price according to the years of usage / ROE (Rand Dollar Exchange) fluctuations of the product during it’s warranty period. We in turn will apply the same percentage when refunding the customer.
  • Faulty End of Life (EOL) products when advertised on our site as such at the time of purchase will not fall into the standard CPA conditions (i.e replacement of a product with equivalent specifications) and where credit/refund is necessary the credit/refund amount will be of the same value at the time of purchase.
  • After the first six months the customer will pay the cost of shipping of the faulty product to us or the repair centre if we use our own couriers or else the customer can use their own methods of shipping. We will still assist with the repair/replacement/refund until the end of the warranty period.
  • Lifetime Warranty refers to warranty for the lifespan of a product (point of discontinuation or point at which a product is expected to perform as per datasheet). The lifespan of the product may vary between 1 and 5 years as specified by the manufacturer. In the event a product has been discontinued, the manufacturer, at its sole discretion, shall either repair the product, offer to replace it with a comparable product or provide a refund at the lesser of the purchase price or the product's current value. Repaired or replacement products will continue to be covered by this limited warranty for the remainder of the original warranty term or ninety (90) days, whichever is longer.

This warranty does not cover problems or damage resulting from, but not limited to, any of the following:

- Wear and tear associated with normal use

- Any modification, abuse, accident, disassembly, misapplication, or unauthorized repair

- Removal of any manufacturer label(s) or sticker(s)

- Any improper operation, including any use not in accordance with any supplied product instructions

- Connection to any improper voltage supply

- Use of consumables, such as replacement batteries, not supplied by manufacturer, except where such restriction is prohibited by applicable local law

- Any other cause which does not relate to a product defect in materials or workmanship

Also excluded from this warranty are counterfeit products; that is, products that the manufacturer, at its sole discretion, determines were not manufactured by them or any of its authorized manufacturing partners.

  • As per section 57. (1) of the CPA we warrant all our repairs and repaired products against the failure of a repair and any further defect for three months from the time we returned the repaired product. During this three month period after a product has been repaired and it fails again, all shipping costs involved are paid by us, including the re-shipping cost for the goods once repaired or replaced.

 

Faulty goods out of warranty:

  • We arrange a courier to collect the goods from you, but you will be liable for all shipping/re-shipping and repair costs involved.
  • You will be requested to pay the shipping to us in advance.
  • Usually the repair centres have a quotation fee which they waive should you accept the quotation but you are still liable for if you reject the quotation.
  • Upon communicating the fee you will be requested to pay in advance before we authorise the repair centre to quote us.
  • Should you accept the quotation you will be required to pay in advance the repair fee plus the return shipping fee before the repair takes place.

 

Return of non-faulty products:

  • Cooling off Period. The customer ordered the product by mistake or changed his/her mind: the product can be returned within seven days of receiving the product.
  • We will arrange a courier to collect the goods from you at your own cost or you can use your own couriers, but the shipping fee will be deducted from the refund.
  • The refund will be equal to the full price of the product less the shipping fee, less discounts and less the restocking/repackaging fee where applicable
  • Products that are still in their sealed packaging may have a restocking fee charged where applicable.
  • Open products - all parts, accessories, manuals etc. that came with it, must be returned in the original packaging and a repackaging fee will be charged.
  • Any parts missing have to be shipped back to 1stopshop at the client’s cost. The restocking/repackaging fee for products is 20% of the product’s purchase/current price, whichever is the lower.
  • All products being shipped back to Autotec must be repackaged into their original packaging in a careful manner. Should a product be damaged while being shipped to our offices, 1stopshop Shopping will not be liable for the damages. Therefore it is advisable that you insure your products and make sure that they are properly packaged.
  • There are few exceptions in respect of which NO COOLING OFF period shall apply:

- Hardware and Consumables which have been opened or has seal broken. Software which is last stock of discontinued line.

- The customer ordered the product by mistake or changed his/her mind, but the product was ordered on request. If the product was ordered specifically for the customer “on request” (when our supplier does not usually stock the product) the customer cannot ask for the product to be returned back to us unless it is faulty.

- Products which by reason of their nature cannot be returned due to the fact that the security seal was tampered with and/or the product has been used. This includes Audio And Car Accessories . It also includes products to which the packaging was torn open and they are not in resealable condition.

 

Autotec shipped a wrong product

  • “Unsuitable product” - the product is not what the customer ordered or expected, or is not suitable for a specific purpose they communicated to us.
  • The product has to be reported as faulty to us within maximum of 10 days from receiving it. After the 6 months of CPA statutory warranty we will not accept or refund any product even if we shipped a wrong product.
  • We will arrange a courier to collect the goods from you at our cost.
  • We may ask the customer to ship with Post Office in which case we will refund the postage fee.

  • We will give you a full refund of the product plus the shipping cost you initially paid.

 

Our returns procedure:

Should your product:
  • Go faulty
  • The incorrect product is delivered to you
  • You have ordered the incorrect product etc.

Please log a return request for the product through your account. Log into your account, go to the 'my products' section, scroll down to the product and click on the 'request repair/return'. Fill in the information and click submit. Once the return is on our system the person who handles warranty repairs/product returns will email you with further information regarding the procedure for that product.

 

  • In case of a return for refund, under no circumstances we shall refund more than 100% of the product purchase price!
    • In case of complex fault when we are not sure which component is faulty, each component will be tested by the relevant supplier of this component. This can take extra time to the normal testing time.
    • If the components have to be disassembled in order to be tested and after that assembled back, in some rare occasions, this may involve extra labour charge which has to be absorbed by the customer (even though the components maybe under warranty)
    • In case of a refund of a faulty component, credit will be passed only for the faulty component and not for all the components involved.
    • Any labour costs involved with the initial purchase of the machine will not be refunded.
  • If you want to return a product, which does not fall under the above categories, please contact us and we will try our best to help.
  • Dispute resolution: If we do not accept that we supplied a defective product or that it is unsuitable, and our customer services department has not been able to help, any customer may still take the matter up with a suitable ombud or other dispute resolution body, or take legal action. The dispute resolution procedures under the CPA do not necessarily apply to all transactions with us. This policy does not exclude any other rights customers may have.
  • Customer queries and complaints: We aim for complete customer satisfaction. We respect our customers’ rights and always try to comply with best practice and all relevant laws. If you are not satisfied with any of our products, or have any questions, please contact our customer services department and have your invoice ready. We will try our best to solve your problem. We are proud of the products we sell and our reputation for service and fairness.

Our customers can contact our service department as follows:

  • Telephone number: 0114529059
  • Email address: info@autotec-vts.co.za.co.za
  • Office hours: Between 08h00 and 17h00 Weekdays

 

Warranty Information

We warrant that all our products are new and of good quality unless we clearly describe them as used or reconditioned or as having specific defects.

  • We only sell products imported by the official importer of the relevant brand, hence all our products carry their full manufacturer’s warranty.
  • We do not sell grey imports. We do not import any of the products ourselves. We do not service any of the products ourselves. The exception to the later statement is, if we assemble a product and there is a fault in the assembly, rather than in an individual component, we may service the product ourselves.
  • All defective products under warranty are sent to the relevant supplier or official service for repair or replacement. It usually takes between 1 and 2 weeks to have the warranty resolved. This time excludes the shipping time to and from 1stopshop. But sometimes the warranty resolution can take longer due to various factors like waiting for spare parts.
  • Should the customer request any form of urgent attendance to a fault (i.e. to be tested / repaired / replaced within 1 day or 2 days etc. ) we reserve our right to first assess if the request is reasonable and inform the customer of the minimum period required to attend to this fault. If we agree to shorten the usual time for attendance to a fault we also reserve our right to request that the customer pays any charges we may incur as a result of this (i.e. extra shipping costs, extra travel or time costs to bring the product to the supplier as a special trip etc.)
  • Please use the My Products & Warranties section to track your product warranty expiry dates and find useful information about what to do in case you need support for any given product.
  • Unless stated otherwise, we cannot honour a product warranty if the product has been physically damaged, struck by lightning, installed incorrectly or subjected to misuse or abuse in any way.
  • Software, consumables are not covered by a warranty. You can only return them if we have made an error on our side, causing A misunderstanding of what product is being purchased/what the product can be used for/what products the product is compatible with.