The Voice - Consumer's Voice

How much must I pay the pawn shop?

Sir I went to this other pawn shop in Mogoditshane to pawn my car since I needed cash urgently. That was in October. I got P5,000 and they said I will be paying P6,119.

Then I was 2 months without paying. When I checked in January it was around P10,000 and I told them that I will be coming to pay in 2 days only to be told that my credit will start charging day by day. Guess when I went to check after the 2 days the credit was at P13,800. When I asked why they said this is how it is. I managed to pay P9,000 and the remaining they said I should do I roll over.

Mind you at this point the car that I pawned had a breakdown in Palapye. It's there now and they told me I should bring it. I told them I don't have money to go get it. Since I signed for the roll over they cannot credit me the change. You borrow from P5,000 upwards, from that P3,800 I did manage to pay they say they will be charging day by day if I don't bring the car. When I calculated this is P1,000 per day, Please help is this how things are supposed to be sir?

Readers of The Voice will know that there are some things I really dislike. I really dislike hire purchase and I really dislike shady microlenders. I also really dislike the gambling industry. The thing they have in common is that they are all designed to promise great things but are actually based on exploiting the desperate and unwise.

But there's something I dislike even more. Pawn shops. They promise a quick and easy way to get some cash but the conditions and costs are punishing. And if things go wrong, victims can easily find themselves in desperate situations like yours.

I think this particular pawn shop is behaving very suspiciously and it's time we involved the regulator, NBFIRA and see if they can assist you. This pawn shop needs to answer some tough questions.

A Facebook warning

We've had a tough time with Facebook recently.

As members of the Consumer Watchdog Facebook group know, we frequently post warnings about scams of all sorts. Hopefully the message gets to the members of the group who are now more than 231,000 and they can then spread the word to their families, friends, workmates and neighbors.

Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't seem to understand how this works. They have systems that are meant to prevent scams and abusive posts but it turns out this doesn't work very well.

Two weeks ago I posted a warning on Facebook about a scam. The post included some of the messages I had sent and received from the scammer. The good news is that many people responded, understanding that is was a scam alert. The bad news is that Facebook's system, completely misunderstood and saw it as promoting a scam. As a result, my Facebook profile was twice suspended and the Consumer Watchdog group has been threatened with closure.

The lesson is simple. Technology is great, but we can't always trust what human beings have done with it. Be careful what you post on Facebook. They find it difficult to tell the difference between scammers and those protecting people against them.

Scam Alert. How to lose your FNB account

How do scammers gain access to our bank accounts?

It's simple. We allow it by handing over our security details.

It begins with a message on your phone.

It looks serious. So you click on the link.

However, it's not FNB. The link actually go to this URL:

Not FNB.

This is the screen it shows.

It's well done, it looks just like FNB. The right colors, right logo, It's very persuasive.

You enter the username and password and then it shows this:

Say goodbye to your bank account and your money.

Will FNB help you if this happens? No. It's not FNB's fault that you gave away all of your online banking security and card details. 

If this DOES happen, it's still worth contacting the bank because they MIGHT be able to freeze your account but it's unlikely they'll get there in time.

These scammers are very good at their job.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Must I pay 30%?

I bought an Itel A50 cell phone for P1,300 at a cellphone store at Rail Park Mall. The phone is overheating and also refuses to upgrade the software. So I went back there today and they told that if I return the phone they are going take 30 percent. So I want to ask if it is true that they have to take 30 percent?

I think you know the answer to this question, don't you? Of course they can't charge you 30%. It's very simple. Section 15 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". Section 16 goes on to say that a consumer may return goods to the supplier within six months if the goods are faulty.

Clearly, a cell phone that overheats and doesn't allow you to update the software is not good quality, is not in good working order and is not free of defects. The store has three choices. They can repair the phone, they can replace it or they can refund you but it's up to them which they choose, but they've got to do one of them. And let me make it clear again they can't charge you for this. Not 30%. Not even one percent.

I contacted the store management and I think they understand their obligations. Hopefully they'll be in touch with you very shortly and they'll resolve this issue.

Won't they fix the bed?

Good day Richard. Kindly assist me here. I bought a bed from a furniture store at Rail Park Mall in November 2022 and the bed made a squeaky sound which made very unbearable to sleep on. I lodged the complaint to them the same month I bought the bed. To date I have not been assisted. I am always told some lame excuse as to why I haven't been assisted.

Kindly help me. I would really appreciate it. I hardly sleep at night because of this issue. Imagine after having a long hectic day at work all you look forward to is to refreshing and getting a good night sleep but for me that's not the case since this bed is very uncomfortable to sleep on because of the squeaky sound it makes. I would really appreciate it if you were to assist me on this matter.

My answer is very similar to the situation with the cellphone but with a slight difference. You had a right to a bed that did what a bed should do, and that includes not making irritating noises. You were right to tell the store about this and to expect some sort of solution. You are also entitled to communication from the store to let you know what's happening and if there are any delays. So far that's all quite simple.

I contacted the management at the store and they assured me that they look into the case and come up with a solution. However, they reported that there was something you forgot to tell me. You'd been doing your ironing on the mattress and burnt it. Technically that voids the warranty that the store offered you and that means they're under no obligation to fix it. However, they're being quite reasonable so I hope they'll still come up with a solution that can help you.

The lesson here is always to be extremely careful with the products you buy. If they're faulty, obviously the store has to fix them but if you damage them, then it's up to you.

Consumer Watchdog under threat from Facebook

FOR RELEASE

Consumer Watchdog under threat from Facebook

Consumer Watchdog Botswana, who operate a Facebook group with over 230,000 members is currently under threat from Facebook itself. Richard Harriman, one of the administrators of the group, has twice recently had his Facebook profile suspended after publishing a public warning about a scam. Facebook has also warned that the Consumer Watchdog group itself is "at risk of being disabled".

In what is a major failing of the measures designed to protect Facebook users against scams, the post was seen as promoting the scam, despite being a warning entitled "Scam Alert".

Harriman said:

"I think Facebook need to look very carefully at how they protect their users against abuse. We work very hard to warn consumers in Botswana about scams and have been threatened many times by the crooks running them for exposing their crimes. Scams like Ecoplexus were successfully stopped following these warnings and I worry that more scammers will be able to steal from their victims without these alerts. Instead of stopping us protecting consumers, Facebook should help us."

Consumer Watchdog is a fiercely independent consumer support, education and advocacy group and everything it does for consumers is entirely free.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

They're still charging me!

Please kindly assist me with the matter of a cash loan. I took a 2 years loan from them on December 2022. The cut off date was last year November but they deducted in December. I logged in a complaint for my refund on the 18 December but till today they are not willing to assist with the refund.

They are saying their laptop is water damaged and until laptop is fixed that's when they can help me. The cash loan was recruited by our company and payment was made from work by HR. Our HR department said the cash loan has to pay me back for the refund.

So now they are not willing to assist with my refund.. um keeping on calling them.. only excuses after another. Is there anywhere I can report this matter for my refund of P1,533.71?

This is completely unacceptable. Firstly, you paid off the loan in full and they need to stop taking your money. It's not complicated. I'm also not impressed by your HR Department. Don't they realize that it's their job to ensure that the company workforce is fully motivated to do their work? If the microlender they invited into the company is misbehaving, they need to start doing their job and help fix this.

However, what's more concerning is the microlender and their pathetic excuses. Their laptop is water damaged? Is it possible they only have a single laptop? And no backup facility? No disaster recovery plan? No money to buy another laptop? They can't be trusted.

Actually this isn't surprising. Although the microlending company is still registered with CIPA, they are not on the list of regulated lenders held by NBFIRA. I contacted them and they made some excuses about the renewal of their licence and said they are entitled only to recover existing debts and not create new ones. They assured me that you'll be refunded very soon.

Is it worth it?

Hello Mr Harriman. Yesterday I bought a certain Forex booklet from someone for P300. However upon reading it I realised I wasn't satisfied with the information that it contained, more so I was expecting something different. I have a similar one I downloaded from Google. So I told him and asked for a refund of which he is refusing do give. I'm I wrong or right to ask for a refund because I'm not satisfied?

There's a lesson here for all of us. This is how many forex gurus and Get Rich Quick peddlers make money. They start by offering "education" and "training" on their particular money-making scheme, often in the form of electronic booklets like the ones you bought. However, your experience is a common one. The material many of them offer is either freely available on the internet somewhere, incredibly basic or both.

These days it's even easier. As an experiment, I asked my preferred AI tool to generate a forex guide and less than a minute later, I had a booklet better than the one you paid money for. All for free.

The lesson is simple. Anyone who invites you to join their money-making scheme wants to make money FROM you, not WITH you.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Is it legit?

Can you please check for me if a company called Tigris Capital UK is indeed legit. I heard from a friend who is selling me the idea that those are financial funders. They are investor who are willing to invest in Africa, that they are willing to invest millions to a billion dollars. I can send you documents for you to see.

I'm very glad you contacted me before you went any further with this. It's a scam. There is absolutely no doubt about it.

The first clue is that this is not how lending works. Lenders from foreign countries don't give billions, millions or anything to total strangers in foreign countries. It's hard enough getting a loan from a local bank so it's unbelievable that a company in another country will lend you so much money.

The second clue can be found in the material they sent you. This included South African company registration documents, BEE certificates, industry regulator compliance documents, copies of passports and even bank confirmation letters. These very convincing documents might have been persuasive if they'd been for the right company. Instead of "Tigris Capital UK", they were for a South African company with a totally different name. I suspect these are all genuine documents but for an innocent company with no connection to this scam.

However, the biggest clue was in the contract from "Tigris Capital" you were sent. Alongside lots of fancy contractual terms was this: "2.7 Facilitation Fee: A total facilitation fee of (6%) will be payable by the Borrower on disbursement of the loan."

That's what this is all about. As soon as you've agreed to accept the loan, YOU have to pay THEM a lot of money. That is the payment that gives this scam its name: an "advance fee scam".

Please spread the word to everyone you know so they, like you, can avoid this and similar scams.

Where's my refund?

Last week Saturday I bought a headboard at a furniture store and paid P7100 cash. They told me that they will deliver it on Sunday the following day. I waited for them the whole day on Sunday and they didn't deliver it. On Monday they told me that they don't have that headboard in stock even at the warehouse so they had to refund me. I've been calling them the whole week for my refund and they are telling me that they are still trying to raise my money because they don't have any cash.

This is ridiculous. This is a major chain of furniture stores who claim they don't have any money? And why do they even need to pay you in cash? If they had any sense they'd get your bank account details and they could refund you in a moment. That's surely the simplest solution?

I contacted senior management at their Head Office and alerted them.

Update: They contacted the customer and promised to refund them the next day.