The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where’s my bath tub?

Good Morning Richard! I need your help. There is a hardware store in Lobatse, we long paid for goods and transport for goods to be delivered at Goodhope in the beginning of August, Even up to now they haven’t delivered all the goods. They keep on delivering the wrong item. We had told them we want a white ceramic bath tub and we were told ceramic is only in pink and we opted for it only for them to deliver a white plastic tub and a changed story that they don’t sell ceramic. Can you please help so that we get the rightful items or a refund because we should have long started plumbing.

I think the time has come to walk away from this deal and get a refund, don’t you?

This store is clearly incapable of delivering what you ordered and you need to a find a better store, not only one that can deliver what you order but one that won’t make up stories to cover up their uselessness.

I suggest that you contact hem and tell them, either in writing or by message that you are cancelling the deal because they have failed to deliver what you ordered from them and what they agreed to supply. Tell them that they have breached Section 13 (1) (a) of the Consumer Protection Regulations of 2001 by trying to offer you goods that did not “match any sample or description given to the consumer”. Tell them that they have also breached Section 13 (1) (d) by supplying goods that were not “of a particular standard, quality, or grade” and not “of a particular style or model”.

You should then remind them that Section 15 (1) (e) of the Regulations requires a supplier like them “to promptly restore” and payments that have been made when a deal is cancelled like this. I’m not sure what “promptly” means exactly but maybe give them seven days to pay you back. You should end by saying that if they don’t cooperate with your very reasonable cancellation of the deal and refund your money you’ll ask the Small Claims Court for an order against them for the money you paid them. Maybe that will be enough pressure?

Is World Class Billionaires a pyramid scheme?

Definitely, no doubt about it.

There are various clues about this scheme that suggest it’s a scam. For instance, they claim on their web site that it's their "3rd Year of Operation" and they have "Over 12 Years of Experience" but their domain was only registered on 13th June this year.

They also claim that they are based in Dubai, saying that their physical address is "Suite 17, The Iridium Building, Umm Suqeim Road, Al Barsha, Dubai". It took me just a few seconds to discover that this is an accommodation address used by dozens of companies.

Then there are the claims they make. They say that you can earn "10% to 14% Monthly". If that was true, which it clearly isn’t, and you made that sort of money and you reinvested it each month, that would give you an annual percentage rate of 382%. That’s absurd and clearly a lie.

It’s interesting that on their web site they offer some "testimony" from someone who they claim is in Botswana although I can’t find a trace of the person they name. This probably fictitious person says:

"I am still new in WCBG. I Partnered with P5 000 in February and I got P800 four times in March, April, May and June. Thank you for coming to Botswana. I will buy my first house next year!"

Look at that quote again and do the maths. This person apparently invested P5,000 and so far has received P3,200 back. So they’ve currently made a loss of P1,800? And that’s a success? That’s how they’re going to afford to buy a house? Is that meant to be persuasive?

This is very simple. World Class Billionaires is an illegal "multiplication scheme" that offers returns above the market rate. This is forbidden by Section 9 of the Consumer Protection Act of 2018 and the maximum penalty for promoting or even joining such a scheme is a fine of up to P100,000 AND prison for up to 5 years. Is that a risk worth taking?