Please I need your help. I bought a bed at a store in Gaborone but realised that the bed is not at all comfortable to an extent that I have backache and waistache. The following day I called the store and the salesperson tells me that its difficult to change the bed for me. Mind you the bed has been with me for a week now but still I can’t understand why I don’t get help. I used my daughters name because I am not employed but able to pay. What do we do now?
When you say that you used your daughter’s name. I assume that means you bought the bed on hire purchase? The first problem is that you’ve placed a considerable burden on her. If you ever have problems paying, it’s your daughter that will pay the price, not you. I understand why sometimes this is done, some people have a bad credit history or other times they don’t have a bank account so they need someone else to sign the agreement but it’s important to understand what this means. It means that the person who signs on your behalf takes all the risks for you.
However, I suggest that your daughter contacts the store and she should remind them that the bed isn’t suitable and that Section 15 (1) of the Consumer Protection Act says very clearly that a “consumer has the right to receive goods which are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects”. It’s quite simple, despite the difficulty some stores have in understanding it, but a bed should function as a bed. You should be able to sleep in it in reasonable comfort for a reasonable length of time. It certainly shouldn’t give you backache.
The most important thing to know is very simple. Whatever happens, no matter how frustrated you and your daughter might become, no matter how long it takes for them to fix the bed, you mustn’t stop paying the instalments. That will just make matters much, much worse.
Where’s my pension money?Long story but briefly, I processed my pension, I got the 1/3 and the 2/3 to be taken monthly which is only P1,000. I resigned from work in 2007 for further studies in the UK but the college was bogus. So I had no job until I returned in September 2018. I'm jobless and the chances of getting any work are very low. I was a teacher.
I had written to BPOPF and to NBFIRA requesting the full amount of the 2/3 but it was refused. I live with my kids who each earn less than P7,000 and pay rent of P3,000 and a grand daughter who attendeds school. I have no house of my own. The money would take me out of poverty and give me a decent life. Is there any where I can go for intervention?
Unfortunately, this is how pension schemes work. If you visit the BPOPF web site (link here) it says that when a member retires, the pension fund member can get one third of his or her benefit which is tax free but the remining two thirds must be used to “purchase an annuity from an approved insurance of his/her choice”. That annuity will pay you an amount every month for the rest of your life, in your case P1,000.
It’s important to understand that pension schemes aren’t saving schemes like you might get from a bank, where you can withdraw any or all of the money you saved when you want it. Pension schemes are there for give you an income when you retire. The only exception is that you are allowed to take one-third in cash on retirement. You can use that for any purpose you like but the smart move is to use it to pay off any debt you might have, maybe finish a building project or perhaps even use it as start-up capital for a new business. Something useful that will help your finances for the rest of your life.
Sadly, the remaining two-thirds is protected and no matter how much you ask, the law forbids your pension provider from changing that.
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