Radio show notes - week beginning 5th February 2018

Source: Wikipedia

1. Hire purchase vs store cards

"I bought a laptop using my store card last year December. Two weeks later my house was broken into and they took all electrical appliances including the laptop. The other shops gave me new items after I brought the police affidavit. But the laptop they are refusing to replace the laptop but I'm paying every month for something which is not there. Please help."

Most hire purchase schemes include some form of insurance that will cover the customer against theft and fire. However, these insurance policies are often incredibly expensive, costing several times more than a similar policy from an insurance company. You can often get a household insurance policy that covers the entire contents of your house for little more than the cost of the insurance within the HP contract that only covers the items you're hiring.

In this case, the HP insurance replaced the other items but this customer bought the laptop using his store card. I checked the small print of the store card agreement and while it included insurance for death,disability and loss of income (retrenchment etc) it didn't;t cover theft.

The lesson is that a household insurance policy covers everything, including laptops and cellphones and is a much cheaper option in the long run. Insurance might seem expensive but it's not as expensive as not having insurance..

2. Car sale scam

"I am currently selling one of my cars, a 2007 BMW. I advertised it on Social Media and one guy claiming that he is from UK showed interest. He asked me to open a Paypal account. He said he will make the full payment after which his shipping agents will contact me to deliver the car. He said they will be coming from Turkey to pick it up from me after the payment has been successfully made. How credible is a Paypal account and whats your advise in the whole set-up?"

Paypal is a very safe way to buy things online. You link your Paypal account to your credit card and your card details are then kept secret when you buy things online. I've used it before and I would happily use it again.

However this situation has nothing to do with Paypal. It's a scam.

Ask yourself this. What would someone in the UK want to import a car from Botswana. And using an agent in Turkey? Doesn't the second-hand car trade usually operate in the opposite direction?

The buyer here wanted P48,000 for his BMW. Some quick research found an identical car on sale in the UK for the equivalent of P39,000. So why would the buyer want to spend all that extra money on a more expensive car that would need to be shipped around the planet?

Because there is no buyer, there's only a scammer. Sooner or later there would be some fee, perhaps an duty, tax or fee that the seller needed to pay in advance. An "advance fee". A scam.

3. The small print (again)

We received an invitation to the "Regional Secretaries Conference" to be held at the Avani Hotel on 27-28 February for P8,999. Included in the terms and conditions was this:

"In the event that Business Communicator cancels or postpones an event for any reason, you will receive a credit voucher of 100% of the course fee paid and no refund will be given under any circumstances. The credit voucher will may be used at another Business Communicator event, which is valid for one year from the date if issuance."

So if the conference is cancelled or postponed and you can't or don't want to attend the rescheduled conference you lose your money. That's IF it's rescheduled. And after a year say goodbye to your money.