The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Must I pay?

Hello Richard, please can you assist here. This morning my builder bought goods worth P7,000 from a hardware store in Palapye, only to realize they have bought something which I didn't want since there was a communication breakdown. Within an hour I asked them to go and back and ask for a refund bearing in mind we haven't even got the goods and they haven't even left the store yet.

A guy at the store said he can't refund and then said he would charge 5% for a refund and then this rose to 15%. Apparently they are saying they need my ID, what for? Can you assist in this matter?

The first question to ask is who made the mistake here. Clearly if a store makes a mistake it's up to them to cover any costs involved in reversing the transaction. This might include any bank charges they incurred if the purchaser swiped when they paid for the goods. However, from what you say it doesn't seem that the store made a mistake.

The question is who, between you and the builder, made the mistake? You said there was a communication breakdown but I think it's worth a conversation to figure out how the miscommunication happened. Then you can decide who should cover any costs that the store needs.

I'm also happy to contact the store to discuss exactly how much they should charge to reverse the transaction. It needs to be reasonable. I'll also ask them why they need you ID. I can see why they want to double-check that they're refunding the right person but let's check that first.

Where's my refund?

There's this other lady I asked her to design a two piece for me in December. She did that and upon delivery the sizes were too big for me even though she had taken my measurements.

We agreed that she will do another set for me but even today I'm still waiting. When I approach her she always tells me she's working on it since now. I ended up asking her to refund me because she's failing to deliver even now since December last year.

She's not someone who's willing to pay me because she will not even say anything until I text her.

This really is quite a simple situation. Section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act says that consumers are entitled to expect services to be delivered:

"in a manner and quality that consumers are reasonably entitled to expect". 

An outfit you order should be the correct size. That's not complicated.

The Act continues, saying that when a supplier fails to deliver services to this standard, they must either "remedy any defect in the quality of the services" or "refund the consumer".

In your case you gave her both options, allowing her to remake the outfit but clearly that didn't happen. That's when you correctly demanded a refund.

I contacted the lady and, to be fair, she responded well. She told me that:

"I told her Il refund her, I'm still broke right now". 

When I asked her when you can expect a refund, she said:

"I told her month end but this month was hectic like the past ones. But I'm working on it. It will have to be end of this month."

So let's see. If she repays you at the end of the month we can all be happy. If not, we'll need to think of other ways for you to get your money back.