The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can they abuse me like this?

Please kindly assist and advise me regarding this particular matter.

On the 6th November I went a filling station in in Mahalapye to fuel my car for P612 and I wrote the car registration number on a piece of paper for the teller to punch it on the system so that it appears on the receipt and teller entered the wrong car Reg number so I asked for a correct one, but the Filling station manager who seemed to be NOT customer friendly told me that there is nothing she can help me with because she can't reverse the transaction and give me a correct receipt.

I told her that I need to claim that money from my employer where handwritten invoices are not accepted and she should find a way of helping the situation or take me to her senior manager for assistance. She got angry with me just for that and told me that she is the Director, she does not report to anyone and ordered me to leave her premises and to never see me again, she further threatened that she is going to call the police if I don't leave the premises, saying that she is not afraid of me, she can do anything and ordered all her employees not to talk to me about anything. Remember she said all these in front of her employees and other customers. I left the store helplessly, stressed, very embarrassed, feeling emotionally abused, my integrity being assaulted, the worst customer service I experienced in my entire life. And my rights as a consumer being abused.

I think you have a right to feel that way. You were abused in public and had your “dignity as an honest member of society” abused by someone who had no right to treat you that way. Just so you know, that quote comes from a court case a few years ago when a consumer took a company to court for embarrassing her in public. The judge ruled that those of us who are “honest members of society” have a right to be treated with dignity. You were clearly NOT treated the way you deserved.

I’m sure that filling station managers are fully aware that many companies demand printed receipts so that their employees can claim back their business-related petrol costs, it must happen many times every day. It’s not an unreasonable request and it’s certainly not unreasonable to ask for a receipt to be done correctly.

If you send me the location and exact date and time of the incident, we’ll get in touch with their Head Office and see how quickly an apology, a sincere and heartfelt one, can be offered. And a correct receipt! You certainly deserve both of those things!

Where’s my package?

I need help on what steps i can take in this case. I engaged a courier company to collect some items for me and deliver them. I received the package but was at work. When I opened it the following day I realised there were some items missing (the courier is the one who picked and packaged). When I made them aware of this, it’s like the items just disappeared between pick up, packaging and delivery. No one knows anything. Can I recover my things? Or i have no case?

This might be tricky unless the courier company has evidence of what was collected and packed when they picked up the package. Is there any evidence from where the package was picked up of what was meant to be shipped?

I suggest that you speak to the Managing Director of the courier company and ask him or her to intervene, investigate and give you feedback on what happened. A responsible courier company should treat your complaint seriously and should be worrying about the risk to their reputation if they can’t be trusted to collect, transport and deliver things.

When you booked the shipment did they offer you insurance? If they did, did you accept it? It’s always worth ticking that box when you book a courier company because very often if you don’t take insurance the courier company won’t take any responsibility for losses or damage along the way. It might cost just a little extra but like all insurance, it sometimes seems expensive but it’s a lot less expensive than NOT having it.