The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where are they?

I've ordered layer cages and layers and paid 100% in advance costing P440 000 and its been 4 months now telling me stories. They sent a quote then i paid accordingly. He kept calling and saying the cages are coming for the past 5 weeks and never responded. He claimed the layers arrived before the cages so they are waiting for the cages in the meantime he will keep the layers at his farm. That was on the 9th of October.

This Friday he said the cages are being loaded in SA only for him to call later and said the truck has died enroute to Gaborone on the South African side.

This sounds incredibly frustrating and also incredibly expensive.

I was concerned to learn when we chatted that you had non written agreement with this supplier that described the delivery times and what can be done if there's a problem. I know you have a quotation but I think that any agreement as expensive as this needs something more. But it's too late for that now.

I'm not an attorney but I think the time might be right to consult one. If I was in your position I'd start by getting a message to the MD or CEO saying that unless they either deliver the goods or refund you within 7 days, you'll start legal action for a refund. If that doesn't do the trick, you'll need to find an attorney who can support you.

I can also contact them. We don't have the same legal authority as an attorney and a court but do they really want to risk exposure in The Voice? Are they that brave?

They ruined my suit!

I was recommended a person who apparently runs a cleaning operation in Palapye to dry clean my suit and jacket. I gave them my suit and a jacket specifically telling this person about them to be dry cleaned. In the evening of the very same day they collected the items from me they called me and told me my items are giving out colour. I asked how was that possible, and I asked them to send me a photo. In that moment when I saw the photo I asked what they were using to wash the items. I was told they are using the washing machine, and when I asked why they washed my items with soap and water when I specifically asked for dry cleaning, and there was no answer.

The next day when I went to meet them at their place of work, I was approached with unpleasant attitude, and the story was that they have washed suits for many other people and never got complaints. I have since left them with the items to seek redress. They are giving attitude after messing up my clothes and now I have to incur the cost of taking the items to another cleaners to do a proper work of fabric revitalization.

Please advise who I can see to mediate this issue and settle the matter with this person.

There's a word for this. 'Incompetence".

Every man and every woman with a nice suit knows that they must be dry cleaned. They can't be thrown in the everyday washing with the t-shirts and underwear. Soap and water aren't good enough. They deserve specialist dry-cleaning.

But it seems that this cleaning company know a lot less than the rest of us. Obviously they don't understand how to do their business, how to clean expensive items of clothing.

Section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act says that when:

"a supplier undertakes to perform any services for or on behalf of a consumer, the consumer has a right to … performance of the services in a manner and quality that consumers are reasonably entitled to expect".

Do you want to explain this to them or shall I? Let's both do it.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can I get my money back?

I bought a car Mazda CX5 for P92,000 from a car dealership in Mogoditshane on 17th October and it immediately gave me problem of overheating. The salesman said we should bring back the car so he can attend to it. I left it with them on the 18th and collected it on the 21st then travelled to Gantsi.

On our way the car started losing power and could not reach 120km/hr. The salesman said we should observe it and give him feedback. On the 25th the car stopped with me in the middle of the jungle. We called the mechanic to diagnose for us and he said it was injectors. I asked if it we can drive it to Gaborone and he said its best we tow the car. On the 28th we towed the car to Gaborone and we paid for the expenses. We left the car at the garage and collected it on 5th November and travelled back to Gantsi. The car stopped 165km to Gantsi. It was overheating and speed not exceeding 80km/hr. We called the salesman again he said we should let it cool down before proceeding with our journey. The car refused to perform and we called him again and he said we should tow the car to Gantsi. So we towed the car to Gantsi and paid P1,800.

When we talk to him to refund and find a way to come get the car in Gantsi he started being angry and told us to bring back the car and get our money. When reminding him that he is responsible for the cost he said we should use the balance of P3,000 that is left with us but we paid for towing from where we were stuck to Gantsi. When telling him that last time when we towed the car to Gaborone we paid P8,000 after negotiating with the towing company. I need help to get my money back for the car and the money we used to tow the car.

I'm not an attorney, but I suspect there's a mixture of good and bad news for you. The good news is that the car dealership said they would repay you the price of the car, the P92,000. I hope you got that in writing, even if it's just a WhatsApp message.

However, it might be a challenge to get back the towing fees. I'm not trying to defend this dealership that sold you an unroadworthy car, but it's not their fault that you were so far away from them when the car broke down.

The most important thing when you buy a second-hand car is to always get it thoroughly inspected by a mechanic before you pay the dealer. The inspection might cost you a few hundred, but it might save you tens of thousands.

What can I do?

Someone close to me is claiming to have made over P4 million through Yellow Card and is busy paying money every day saying its clearance fees, income tax and I'm told she has been doing this for over a year now. I tried to warn her but she doesn't want to listen.

The victim was told her cheque is at FedEx and was taken to BURS who demanded P19,000 tax and then returned the cheque back to FedEx after the P19,000 was paid by the victim. This other relative tells me she is owed P90,000 being the money the victim keeps on borrowing to pay for those unending levies that are demanded by various financial bodies including the IMF, which are said to be clearance fees for the money to be deposited into the victim's account.

Her debts are mounting every day because she claims the P4 million cheque is waiting for her somewhere. Unfortunately she is keeping this to herself because she thinks soon she will be P4 million richer. I found out the money paid to these guys is over P200,000.

This is tragic. As most of us will know none of what she's been told is true. She's not dealing with Yellow Card, Fedex, BURS or the IMF. She's dealing with scammers.

Thankfully, she has people like you who are skeptical and who are trying to persuade her that it's a scam. However, very often in situations like this, the victim is so emotionally committed to what they hope will happen that they can't see the truth. I think the best thing we can do is report this to the police. We know that a crime is taking place, and we need law enforcement to do their job.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

How does it work?

Good day sir I want clarity on something. I took a bed and TV from a furniture store then I had challenges to pay so last year around May then they came and repossessed their belongings. Then I was told I was blacklisted. Ok it's then then I went to the shop to ask for my credit scores and they told me to pay them P8,000 to settle the credit. So sir I want to understand how it works?

I also want to know what are the procedures to be removed from ITC. Does it mean banks won't help me with a credit record still in the system?

Unfortunately, as we've explained here many times before, this is how hire purchase works. If you don't pay your monthly instalments the store can do several things. Firstly they can ignore any obligations they have to fix any faults the item develops because the item doesn't belong to you, it still belongs to them. That's why it's called 'hire' purchase. Until you've made the final payment, the goods aren't yours. That leads to the second problem if you're behind with your payments. They can repossess their goods immediately and without going to court. That's because when you signed the hire purchase agreement you gave them permission to recover their goods from you.

Then you encounter another problem. Even though you no longer have the goods, you still owe them the money. They might sell the repossessed goods for a small sum and they might deduct that amount from your debt but it's not guaranteed. This debt will never easily go away.

Finally, the company is likely to increase your debt with penalties, interest payments, and charges for every letter they send and phone call they make. They will then register that debt with a credit reference bureau and that record will remain there until you repay the debt completely. Even after that, it will still be there for a couple of years so other lenders can then decide whether or not to lend to you based on your recent history.

I contacted the store and asked them to check how much you owe them and explain it to you. Then you'll need to negotiate a repayment plan that you can afford.

Can they repair it?

Hi Richard. I recently purchased a washing machine from a certain store in Gabs brand new but it was faulty on the first attempt to use it the same month I bought it in. I only used it once and its been 3 weeks. I requested for a refund or them to fix the machine they are telling me they don't offer refunds but rather fix the machine. How do I deal with the store or where do I report them? Sometimes I think these people sell faulty things and that there is like a loophole for consumers and I think it should also have a duration as to how long they should take action more especially with electrical gadgets.

Readers of The Voice will probably know by now that Section 15 (1) of the Consumer Protection Act says that a consumer "has the right to receive goods which are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects". That's simple. The next section of the Act, Section 16, says that if goods are faulty the consumer can return them within 6 months of purchase for a repair, a replacement or a refund. Those are the three Rs. That's regardless of the warranty that the store offers.

However, the store can choose which of these options they prefer and in many cases a store will try to repair a faulty device first before offering us a replacement or a refund. That makes sense for them because it's probably the cheapest option. But what these stores often forget is that they only get one chance to repair it. Section 16 also says that if "within three months the same problem recurs" they can no longer try to repair it and they only have two Rs left, a replacement and a refund.

Finally, it's important to know about Section 14 of the Act which says that we are entitled to "timely performance and completion" of any services a supplier offers us. So let them try to repair it but make sure they don't take too long about it.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Must I agree?

I have an inquiry. So a customer bought a phone from me. The payment plan was monthly instalments. Now after month 2 they started saying they don't have money to pay for the phone asking if it could be returned and wanted the first instalment to be used to fix the broken screen and then return it.

I take it I'm not supposed agree to these terms right?

(I thought it would be good to take a question from a store rather than a consumer because I think this question says a lot about some consumers.)

No, you are NOT supposed to agree to these terms. Let's be kind and assume this customer is unsure about their rights and not just a bad person.

Let's think about this case step by step. They bought a phone from you and you were generous enough to sell it to them on instalments. (You might want to reconsider this idea.) Then they broke the phone and couldn't pay the second instalment. Neither of these were your fault. Then they asked you to take back the broken phone and use the money they'd already paid you, which was now YOUR money, to repair the phone. In other words, they want to turn back the clock and simply borrow the phone from you, break it and ask you to repair it.

I hope you're a courteous person because I think you need to take a deep breath and politely tell them to pay the second instalment and then fix the phone themself. You had a sale agreement in writing I hope?

Can they charge me to repair the phone?

I bought a brand new phone a REDMi A3 on the 3rd of September amounting to P1,600. Since last week the side buttons on the phone are not working. I went to them for help since they told me that the phone have 3 months guarantee only for them to refuse, saying its not a technical problem and if they repair the phone i will have to pay P150?

This store clearly needs some education. They need to know that Section 15 (1) of the Consumer Protection Act says that a consumer "has the right to receive goods which are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects". That's simple. Surely it's completely obvious that the buttons on a phone must work?

The next section of the Act, Section 16, says that if goods are faulty the consumer can return them within 6 months of purchase for a repair, a replacement or a refund. The store can choose which of these options they prefer but they can't decide to do nothing. They must choose one of those options. For those stores that find this difficult to understand, let me repeat one thing. It says six months. Not a week, not a month, not 3 months, not any other period the store decides. It's there, in plain text in the law. Six months.

I think you should go back to the store and tell them this. It's important to understand that most shady stores are really afraid of customers who know about their rights. Just mention these sections of the Consumer Protection Act and most likely they'll suddenly become much more friendly.

If you want to go a little further you should tell them that Section 16 also says that if the store decides to repair the faulty item and "within three months the same problem recurs" the store can no longer attempt to repair it, they can only replace it or refund the consumer. They only get one chance to repair it.

I suspect that faced with you and your knowledge of your rights, they'll treat you better. If not I'm happy to get involved and help you educate them.