The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can they repair it three times?

I bought an iPhone last month and I used it for 4 days and then it lost network. They took it back and they said they are fixing it. I got it back on Tuesday and I used it for hours then the problem starts again. When I tell them the refund they refuse they say I let them fix it and they won't refund.

We've explained this many times before but it's worth stating again what the law says.

Section 16 (2) of the Consumer Protection Act says that even without a warranty, a consumer

"may return goods to a supplier in their merchantable or original state, within six months after the delivery of the goods … if the goods fail to satisfy the requirements and standards" (required by the Act).

It then says that the store must either repair the item, replace it or refund the consumer their money. 

It goes on to say that once something has been repaired, if

"within three months the same problem recurs in the goods, the supplier shall … replace the goods or refund the consumer the amount paid by the consumer".

I explained this to the reader and then something remarkable occurred. They told the store manager that they knew their rights but this didn't work very well. The store's argument was that the phone was actually refurbished, it was second-hand. So they felt the law didn't apply to them. In fact they decided to be very creative about what the law said. They messaged the consumer saying:

"I guess you were mis informed. That law only applies to brand new phones. Second hand phones one is given 3 attempts".

Unfortunately, there's no polite way to describe this comment. It's a lie. An untruth. It's made up. The law says nothing of the sort. I confronted the store manager about this and he admitted he knew it wasn't true.

He told me the phone would be repaired within a few days. Let's wait and see if this was another lie?

Scam warning (again)

I've been asked again to warn people about the scams using the name of the Yellow Card cryptocurrency exchange. These scammers, who offer enormous profits just pretend to be connected with Yellow Card when in fact there's no connection at all. They're faking it, just like they fake the payment notifications they claim as proof that people can make money from their fake scheme. One of the things these scammers do is to hijack other people's Facebook, WhatsApp and cellphone accounts so they can seem to be real people with real profiles, perhaps even people we know. But how do they do this? How do they gain control over other people's accounts?

It's very simple. We give them our passwords. A member of our Facebook group sent me screenshots from a conversation he'd had with a scammer. The scammer approached him saying he represented a clothing company that was running "a giveaway of p2000 to the first 50 people". In order to get this "giveaway" he was required to give them his name, date of birth, "state/province", country and occupation. Already I think you can sense this is suspicious, can't you? Someone offering money in Pula want to know his "state/province"? But then it became really interesting. They also wanted his "Facebook phone number" and "Facebook password".

This is how they hijack our accounts. The scammers are given access to these accounts by the account owners themselves and they then use these genuine accounts to steal money from further victims.

The same goes for their bank accounts. These scammers often ask for money, the so-called 'investment' to be paid into legitimate bank accounts here in Botswana. These accounts are usually the accounts of other victims who've been told they'll get a percentage if they share their bank details.

The bad news is that sooner or later the bank account holder will realise they've been scammed but it'll be too late. Who knows what the criminals will have done with their account? The victim might then face the ordeal of explaining to the bank or even to the Police why they were willing accomplices to a crime.

The lesson is very simple. Never, under any circumstances, give your Facebook, WhatsApp, cellphone or bank details to anyone who asks for them. The only people who will ever ask for these things are criminals. Do you think you can trust criminals with your identity?