The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where’s my phone?

I bought a new phone, a Huawei Y9s on 8th June and returned it to the shop on 17th July because it was losing battery fast compared to when I bought it. Mind you this is just 5 weeks, and they told me that it is normal for a phone to do that! The finger print scanner was occasionally freezing as well, the phone torch not working and the screen was emitting some kind of light when on rest mode. It just lit up like a torch, only the front part of the phone, I don’t know if it was because of the torch issue or what.

This week, I went to enquire what is the delay. They had no answer. I get to the shop yesterday to collect the phone, and they finally tell me that they broke the screen / cover, and that they said thats why my phone is not ready as they are awaiting that replacement. And nobody was going to let me know of this until I demanded they give me my phone

I gave them my phone still brand new, am I expected to just get a refurbished with phone with unoriginal parts when I paid for a new phone? This phone cost P4,995 and I was planning to use it a few years before changing it.

When you buy something like a new phone the law says that we have a right to expect “goods which are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects, unless the opposite is clearly disclosed”. That’s not too difficult to understand? The law goes on to say that a consumer like you can return any goods that don’t meet this requirement and that the supplier should “repair or replace the defective goods” or “refund the consumer the amount already paid”. However, it’s important to understand that it’s up to the supplier to decide which of these they offer you. They ARE within their rights to try and repair the phone.

Your situation is slightly more complicated because it seems like they damaged your phone while they were trying to fix it. The law says that you’re also entitled to “timely performance and completion” of a repair and “timely notice of any unavoidable delay” if there’s a problem. It goes on to say that you’re entitled to expect services “in a manner and quality that consumers are reasonably entitled to expect”.

I think we need to help the store understand their legal obligation because clearly they don’t know about them. Let’s offer them some free education!

Is Mufhiwa Building Projects a pyramid scheme?

Hello Richard. Kindly help me here. have you heard of Mufhiwa Building Projects? I think this is a pyramid scheme. Its not practical for 6 people to contribute P170 and be given 600K to build a house!!! Its so sad many of our people are falling for this trap. They have approached a friend and she doesn’t want to take my advice.

Kindly research on the matter and update. Thank you in advance.

You are completely correct. This so-called Mufhiwa Building Project is an obvious pyramid scheme.

Their busines model is very simple, just as you describe. You contribute P170 and then recruit six people beneath you who also contribute the same amount and this continues for several levels and then, they claim, you will have earned enough money either to build your house or pay off your home loan.

I’ve spoken to several people who are trying to recruit others into this scheme and they all say the same thing. It’s all about recruitment. There are no products, no investment schemes, nothing other that persuading other people to join the scheme. That makes it a pyramid scheme.

One of the defences these people all make against the charge that it’s a scam is that it’s a registered company. They’ve even shown copies of a CIPA company registration certificate for the company. However, that means nothing other than someone has paid to register a company. It doesn’t say that the company is legitimate or has honest intentions. It just says that someone has filled in some forms and paid a fee.

Like all pyramid schemes, this one will eventually collapse when they can’t fund enough new members gullible enough to part with their money. Did I mention that promoting or even just joining a scheme like this could cost you a fine of up to P100,000 and up to five years in prison? Or both!