The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Why can't they refund me?

My mom bought rafters for roofing from on the 3rd of June 2021 and was told they would be delivered which didn't happen. She tried calling them but the phone rang unanswered, she then went to their shop and was told that they were waiting for some people from around our area to buy so that they can deliver at once, which was not the agreement. She then arranged for transport to get them herself. Today when she got there they told her that they don't have them on stock which was surprising because they never said they don't have them and they were there on display. She then asked for a refund and the person told her that I (because she was swiping with my card) have to go to my bank and request that they write a letter confirming that the account is mine.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

I think this store needs to learn a few lessons about customer service. And also what the Consumer Protection Act says about the way consumers should be treated.

Section 7 (1) of the Act says that

"A supplier shall not advertise any particular goods or services as being available at a specified price in a manner that may result in consumers being misled or deceived as to the actual availability of those goods or services".

In simpler terms, a company can't advertise things they don't have, unless they're very clear that they don't have them. It also really shouldn't matter whether they have other customers buying things so they can deliver them all at once.

The Act then outlines what happens if a company fails to abide by the Act. It says that if goods

"are not availed as advertised, the consumer shall have the right to cancel the contract (and) the supplier shall refund the consumer the amount paid".

That's really not complicated is it? The only real difficulty is that the refund needs to be made to the account that paid for the goods, in this case your bank account. However, I don't think they need anything from your bank to do that. If you swiped using your card then they can just reverse it. It's their job to figure out how to do that.

Scam alert! 

There is a guy saying that he works for Botswana Railways. He is handing out counterfeit RFQs (Request for Quotation). He emailed me from an email address @botswanarailways.com looking for 6 heavy duty drainage pumps. We quoted him and the quote totalled to about P6 million. He then phoned our office in Francistown and told us to go ahead with the order. He said once the pumps arrived in Francistown he would then organize his own transportation to collect the pumps and take them to Mahalapye.

This was all too suspicious for me as he only dealt with me over the phone and email and refused to come to our branch in Francistown. I then ended up calling Botswana Railways in Mahalapye. They said the guy left BR many years ago. They also said any email coming from a government organization should never end in .com it should always end in .bw.

I'm very glad you were skeptical. I've seen a series of scams like this over the last couple of years. They always involve someone pretending to represent a government department or parastatal who claims they need a proposal to deliver expensive equipment. There are often very professionally presented and the forms they send over look authentic. They also always give the name of someone who sounds real. It's only if you look closely that you can spot the clues that it's a scam. It's things like the scammers using a .com address, not a .bw one. The other clue is that organisations like Botswana Railways don't approach total strangers and offer them business. They have procurement processes, often very slow and cumbersome ones.

Sooner or later this guy would have demanded a payment from you, either a tender fee or some import duty. Whatever they say the payment is for, that's what this is all about. It's an 'advance fee' they'll demand you pay and as soon as you pay them they'll start inventing a series of other payments until you either realise it's a scam or you run out of money. I've heard from victims who've lost hundreds of thousands to scams exactly like this. Let's all spread the word to other potential victims and help them to be as skeptical as you!