Customer Service a black hole into which consumer confidence disappears

Even though I am a fan of Black and Decker products, their customer service in South Africa is worse than appalling, it is non-existent!. After several phone calls, which went unanswered, I finally go through to a spares agent who asked me to put my query into an email. Several emails later, there was still no response. I contacted B+D International, who were helpful and assured me they would get someone from the South African operation to contact me. After several attempts, even they gave up. Absolutely no commitment to customer service.