The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Wedding blues

This communication serves to request your help to help follow up a company who I paid P2,000 in part payment to start media coverage my wedding celebration on dates and venues as stipulated in the agreement contract letter. The company covered the wedding celebration as per contract however they did not finish me two DVDs, one photo book digital photos on CD and 20 printed photos?

I have tried in vain to get our package from the company and I truly believe that this is a breach of contract and therefore kindly request your office to follow up on my behalf.

Please find a copy of our agreement contract. I appreciate in advance your well renowned services.

Here we go again. What is it with the people that offer wedding services? People say that second-hand car dealers are unreliable and untrustworthy but in my experience they’re saints compared to people offering wedding services. We’ve heard of caterers, jewelers, videographers, furnishers and photographers who have all let people down badly on what is supposed to be an enormously important day. I’m sure there are plenty of them who are honest and decent but it’s an industry with more than its fair share of crooks.

You’re lucky in that you signed a contract with this company that explained what they would deliver and it’s exactly as you describe.

I suggest that you contact the company and give them 14 days to deliver exactly what they agreed or that you’ll take them to the Small Claims Court asking for an order against them. Meanwhile we’ll get in touch with them and see if they can’t do the decent thing and offer you either the items you’re owed or at least a partial refund.

Hire purchase woes

I am writing this letter asking for your help as I always read your letters helping consumers from The Voice newspaper. I bought a deep freezer in March 2015 from a furniture shop in Francistown. I paid a deposit of P1,140 in the same month. I default to pay because of some reasons. On the 15th of July 2015 the furniture sales rep called me notifying about the default and telling me that they are going to collect the deep freezer. I agreed with her to collect it, they went that same day to collect the deep freezer. The following day on the 16th a sales rep from the furniture shop called me again telling me that the deep freezer is damaged inside so I should pay for it or otherwise they will submit my name to ITC. I told the sales rep that I am far away from Francistown. So my concern is, is it the right thing for them to tell me to pay for the repossessed deep freezer while they took it and again they told me that after I pay for it I should take it, so why did they take it in the first place. The charges have increased also.

I hope that my letter will be responded to and u will be able advise me.

I’m very sorry for your trouble but this is how hire purchase works. There is one critical thing that everyone should understand when considering buying something on HP. Until you make the final payment you don’t own the items you think you’ve bought. In fact the store still owns them. That means that if an item you’re buying on HP is damaged then you must repair it. In your case the store are entitled to demand that you do this. It’s not your freezer that’s damaged, it’s theirs.

Just to make matters worse you still owe them the entire hire purchase price minus your deposit and anything they’ll make when they auction your item. That’s after you’ve repaired it.

This is just another example of how dreadful hire purchase can be. Yes, there are plenty of people who buy things on HP and who have no problems at all, they just end up paying double the cash price when they buy something. However we hear from huge numbers of people who end up in severe financial trouble as a direct result of buying things this way. It really is a terrible way to buy things. Before you even think of buying something on hire purchase I beg you to consider buying something second-hand instead or, better still, saving up so you can buy the thing for cash.