The Voice - Dear Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I got an email offering an opportunity to advertise on their web site. It says people can buy my products online and that it has made people millionaires. Can this be true?

Absolutely not. I looked at the email they sent you and it’s very suspicious. Firstly the email fails the first scam test. It came from a free email address. As we’ve said before, there’s nothing wrong with a Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail account, we all have one, but they are not something real businesses use for their main email.

It also makes a series of unbelievable promises. It says

“Introducing the rapidly fast growing website in Malaysia www.monsun-biz.com. It’s been the talk of the nation since it successfully produce silent millionaire across Malaysia since 2006. We understand your need to grow big and strong and we are here to help.

It’s Cheap! Only RM 50 for 30 days! Compare that to any advertisement out there! We are the best!”

They want you to pay them around P100 to place some pictures of your products on their web page for a month. What’s more, you have to pay them up front, then send them a text message to confirm you’ve paid and only then do they say they’ll contact you for more details about what you want to advertise.

But why would you want your goods advertised in Malaysia? Why would you want to advertise on a totally unknown web site that, as far as I can see, nobody visits?

The web site is not even worth visiting. It is actually selling virtually nothing, very little appears to be actually sold from the site and the few items I saw that were for sale could only be shipped within Malaysia.

So no, I don’t think their promises can be true. This isn’t offering you anything that will benefit you, it strikes me as a scam. Spend your P100 on something better. We even have our own Botswana-based e-commerce web sites these days. Support them instead of wasting your money!

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I sold 1999 VW Golf for P27,000 to a company called Gush Gush Car Sales in May this year. The manager told me that the arrangement is that I leave the car for processing, and my money will be deposited in my account before 20th May. That’s when I can give them the registration book. The payment was not made on the agreed date, I contacted the manager on the 22th May, that’s when he told me they had a few minor problems and assured to pay me on 25th May. They also informed me that my car had electric problems, but they assured me that wont prevent them from paying me. But to this day I haven’t been paid not even a single thebe, when I call them they don’t take my calls, when I visit them at their shop, they will give me a date of payment, but still they haven’t paid me. The last time I went to them was on the 20th August, the feedback that I got was “We will get back to you before the end of today” but they didn’t.

What can I do?

First the bad news. It was a MAJOR mistake to hand over the blue book. You should NEVER hand over your blue book until you have got your money. Possession of the vehicle registration documents is more important than possession of the car itself. Now that these guys have the documents they can do whatever they like with your car.

Nevertheless the sale agreement you and the company signed might help you. Although it’s a standard document that says they will sell the car for you they handwrote and signed the following:

“Gush Gush Car Sales to pay XXX the sum of P27,000 on or before 5th July 2009.”

We’ll get onto them and see what they have to say for themselves.

The lesson is simple. When you’re selling a car keep hold of the registration documents until the very last moment when you have the money in your account or better still in your hands!