The Voice - Consumer's Voice

I was robbed!

I feel hard done, robbed and bullied by a cellphone shop in Francistown. I bought a phone, insisting that I want it in a sealed box, brand new. They showed it to me in the box, I proceeded to pay. Upon setup at the shop it refused to recognize the SIM cards, they then swapped the new phone with a demo phone (display phone). I demanded my money back but they refused. Instead they said that I must go to the dealer in Gaborone and file a complaint if I want to. The proof that it is a demo phone shows because there is activity on the phone from before I bought it. The receipt shows date of purchase and security updates on the phone show that it's been active before that date. Please help me, I am wondering if I can report it to the police as obtaining by false pretenses. How do I tackle this?

I'm don't think we need to bother the police with this issue. Yes, I suppose it might be a crime but I think we can deal with this ourselves without distracting the police from more important issues.

The first thing we can do it to remind the store owners about Section 13 of the Consumer Protection Act. This says that a supplier "who offers used goods shall inform a consumer that the goods sold are used goods by … placing a label on the goods that indicates that such goods are used goods and
placing a notice on the invoice issued to a consumer".

I'm sure we all agree that there's nothing wrong with selling second-hand goods. In fact, it's a good thing. A second-hand phone can be just as good as a brand new one and a lot cheaper. We all love a bargain. However, we just need suppliers to be honest about it. If they're selling something that's second-hand they need to be open about it. They need to obey the law by labelling the item appropriately.

Also, you can ignore their suggestion that you must go to the dealer in Gaborone to file a complaint. You didn't buy the phone from the dealer, you bought it from the cell phone shop. They are the ones who must deal with this issue.

I'll contact them for you and see if they understand.

My Mother was robbed!

My Mother was robbed of her money. The scammer discussed trading for her to make profit out of P300. Then he or she kept on asking for more and more until it was more than P2.000. When she told me, the money was already gone but I see the Orange Money is still operating.

I told her to go to the Police but most of these cases take a long time as a police case.

I'm sorry to hear about this. Unfortunately, as most readers of The Voice will know by now, scammers don't offer refunds. Once your money is gone, it's gone forever. It's almost impossible to get money back to the victims of scams. Either the scammer is untraceable because they're in a different country, or the money has been quickly transferred overseas. That makes it almost impossible to recover the stolen money.

Nevertheless, it's incredibly important that your mother speaks to the police about this. It's possible they might be able to trace where the money went, and if it's still in Botswana to get it back. They might also be able to trace the scammer if they're still in the country. At the very least, it will allow the police to keep statistics and intelligence on these scams. It might also help them to educate the public about the risks posed by these scams.

However, the greatest weapon we have against these scammers as people like you who are doing your best to dedicate your family members about scams. Please don't stop. It's only as a community that we'll win the war against scams.