Saturday 16 March 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Must I pay?

I need your assistance. I found out at my bank today that I was blacklisted by a furniture store. I have returned the bed I bought with high purchase from them on the 14 October 2022 letting them know that I am out of employment at the time. They now say I owe the amount P6,609 though they say they sold the bed too. I talked to the accounts dept who informed me that I owe more than P8,000. They say though I returned the bed they were still charging which was not what I was informed. I was told to return the bed so that the debt would stop accumulating. Please assist me. I need to know if this is right or wrong.


Unfortunately, some of what you've been told is right and some is wrong. The bad news is that there is no good news. You almost certainly DO owe the company a lot of money.

One of the many horrible secrets about hire purchase is that the goods you receive and the money you owe are not connected. It's called 'hire purchase' because you are hiring the goods until you pay the final instalment. Only then have you purchased the goods. Until that time the goods still belong to the store.

What this means in practice is that if you fail to pay your instalments, the store can immediately repossess them (because they still own them and you don't) but you will still owe them the hire costs for the remainder of the period you agreed to. Some stores will sell the repossessed goods and deduct the money they get from your balance but others don't even do this. Either way, you'll still owe them a lot of money and that amount will only increase as they add interest and penalty fees.

The best thing to do is to speak to the store as soon as possible and try to negotiate a repayment plan that you can afford and that the store can accept.

And don't buy thing on hire purchase again. It's much better to save money and buy things for cash.

What should they do?

Good day Richard. I have a situation here, I bought a Tecno Pop 7 phone from a store in Game City about a month ago. After a system update the phone had a technical glitch, it went on Device Lock mode, I couldn't access anything. The instructions on the screen explicitly said I should return to the seller which I did. I went to check on them to get a status report or a replacement phone since I don't have a working phone at the moment.

I asked the owner of the store to replace my phone with another of the equivalent amount or to reimburse me with the amount I paid so that I buy a working phone, but he refused stating that according to the Consumer Protection Act, they are allowed 21 days to fix the phone but their warranty terms did not state this.

Richard, I need help with this matter urgently because I am greatly inconvenienced. I was not given a courtesy phone and I feel I am being taken for a ride. Please advise on the way forward.


Unfortunately the store is correct. The Consumer Protection Act does indeed say that the store has a right to attempt to repair a faulty item. In full, it says that the store can choose to repair it, replace it or to refund you. But it IS their choice which option they prefer.

However, it says nothing about a 21-day period, they're making that bit up. The Act suggests that there must be "timely performance and completion" of any services but it doesn't mention a particular time.

Something the store might not know, or perhaps chooses not to tell you is that if they repair the phone and then the same problem happens again within 3 months, they lose the option to repair it. Then they can only replace it or refund you.

Together, let's educate the store on what your rights really are and suggest they hurry up?

Saturday 2 March 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

I want my locks!

I went to a tile shop to buy locks for a normal steel door frame that they costed me P3,420. When I got home with the locks my carpenter realized that the locks are big for my door frames also the locks are for wooden door frames. But during the transaction the sales rep did not mention that the locks are for wooden door frame therefore I feel deceived because of no transparency. They also did not explain to me about the refund policy of 15%. 

Kindly look into this matter before lot of people fall into the trap. I even gave the shop chance to find locks that are suitable for my door frames they refused. My intention is to get the service not a refund.


Unfortunately I don't think I have any good news for you.

When we buy goods from a supplier we're entitled to goods that do the job and that are correctly sold. If they sell us something that's faulty we have a right to return the goods and the supplier can choose whether to offer us a repair, a replacement or a refund.

A supplier also isn't allowed to lie to us about what goods can do or if they're suitable for a particular purpose. They must be honest about that. But this is the tricky part. It's up to us as customers to ask if the goods we buy are suitable for our needs. For example, if we buy a laptop we need to ask the salespeople whether it's the right model for our needs. If we buy building materials we need to ask similar questions. If we buy door locks we need to ask them if they're the right locks for our doors.

My understanding from when we spoke on the phone is that you didn't ask them about this. You selected the locks, paid for them and took them home. It was only later, after your carpenter tried to install them, that you discovered they were the wrong type.

We need to ask this. Did the store do anything wrong? Did they mislead you in any way? Did they sell you faulty locks? I don't think so. The good news is that the store has said they can take them back, even though they don't have to, but the bad news is that they want to charge you a fee for reversing the transaction, restocking them and repackaging the ones your carpenter opened. I suspect 15% is a fair price for that.

Will they pay?

Please I need help I don't know even what to do. I recently bought a car from a garage in Mogoditshane with the promise that the car has no fault. I tested the car myself and since I have no mechanical knowledge I took the car. A few days later I realized the aircon is not working so I went to the aircon specialist because I thought it's a minor thing. I only realized that I was now spending a lot of money on the car because I needed to buy new parts.

I told the garage and the guy is telling he we will give me something when he gets money so I requested for proof that I will get refund for the amount I used to fix the car but he is refusing to do so.

Please advise on what I should do in a situation like this.


I think you're right to insist that the car dealer puts their offer to refund you in writing. However, it's no surprise that he's refusing to do so. I think the best thing you can do is to approach the Competition and Consumer Authority and lodge a complaint with them. They've had some success with car dealerships and they have the power to get this guy to answer their questions.

However, there's a really important lesson here. Some of us have enough skill to give a second-hand car a good test before buying it but most of us don't. That's why it's really important to get any second-hand vehicle, no matter how cheap it is, inspected by a mechanic before you hand over the money.

Sunday 25 February 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

I spent someone else's money

Hello Mr Richard. Sometimes last year my bank sent P4,000 into my account without reason. I called them frequently asking them about the money but they told me its my money. I waited for 3 days without waiting for them to talk to me again but they failed. I used money on the fifth day. In May I received a call from them telling me the money wasn't for me and I have to come to their office. They told me I must pay the money back. I told them that I don't have money but they told me to pay money via instalment.

I managed to pay 800, 350, 1,000 but it still reflects that I'm owing them 4,000 in my account. What can I do?


The first thing you should do is to ask the bank why they haven't updated your account correctly to reflect the payments you've made towards the debt. That's a simple thing for them to do and they're negligent for not doing that already.

The second thing you can do is think carefully about how this situation happened. You know now, and you knew then, that the money that was paid into your account wasn't yours. I know it wasn't your fault and I know the bank told it was yours, but you knew that wasn't true when you spent it.

The best thing you can do is keep talking to the bank and repaying the money you took. They've already agreed to accept the money in instalments so it's incredibly important that you keep to that agreement.

The lesson from this is never to spend money you know doesn't belong to you. If money ever does appear in your account that you weren't expecting, tell the bank immediately and do NOT spend it.

Should he be in prison?

In August last year, a judgement in Francistown High Court was given that my brother can use his pension to pay his debt to his bank. He took all the required documents to the pension administrators and up to now they have not paid the bank. The only time they gave him updates is when he either called or when we went to the office on his behalf to follow up since he is in Francistown and unemployed.

As I am talking to you now, he got arrested by deputy sheriffs of the same bank on Monday as the pension administrator has not made a payment to the bank. He will be at Francistown State Prison until his debt is paid.

Is this a fair treatment from people who have kept his pension money and have not been able to assist him on time when he needed them the most?


No, this certainly is not fair. In fact, this is a disgrace.

I know your brother owes money to his bank, but that isn't the real problem. The bank should know by now that your brother has the money to pay his debt to them, just not now. They know that his pension will pay off the debt and it's not his fault that the administrators have taken their time. So they should have sat down with him and asked him to sign some sort of agreement that when the pension pays out they'll get their money. And then they need to be a little more patient.

We spoke to senior managers at both the bank and the pension administrators when we heard this and, to their credit, they were just as shocked about what had happened. They both recognized that they had failed badly. The pension administrators have assured us that they'll get the pension process done as quickly as possible and they also promised an investigation into why the process took so long that it led to their client spending time in prison. The bank told us they'd make sure your brother was set free as soon as possible.

However, two days later, he's still in prison. You can find out if he's released in the Consumer Watchdog Facebook group. One final word on civil imprisonment for debt. This system is being over-used and often punishes the wrong people. Of course there are some people who deserve it, those who willingly, deliberately avoid paying their debts. They deserve to face the consequences. But very often it's the wrong people who are punished this way, people like your brother. We need a new approach.

Update: The guy was finally released a few days later. He's now back home, recovering from a traumatic experience he didn't deserve. Both companies should be ashamed of how long they took to sort this matter out. 

Sunday 18 February 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

More scam alerts

Maybe it's the time of year, I don't know, but there's a lot of scams around right now.

Last week we warned readers of The Voice about a scam called Miracle Farm which is a replica of Ecoplexus. Luckily a lot of people are more aware these days but people are still falling for it, depositing money into a local bank account that is being used to channel the money to the crooks running the scheme overseas.

But Miracle Fam isn't the only scam going around. There are other, including Ace Car Rental, Ceptual Trade, Crystal Queens and Forzza Odds. They all operate primarily from WhatsApp groups full of promises of massive and quick profits. They all ask for relatively small amounts of money but if lots of people fall victim to them, they still make a lot of money. You can be sure that anyone who gives them a little will soon be encouraged to pay them a lot more.

So how can you tell if something is a scam? Here are some ways to help you decide. Firstly, ask the person who invited you to join, why they did so? Did they do it because they're just a kind and charitable person? If they say Yes, then you know it's a scam.

Next, ask them if the scheme is a registered company. Hopefully they'll tell you that it's registered somewhere but if so, ask for proof. Then check if it's true. If you don't know how to check, ask us.

Ask them how money is generated by the scheme. People marketing a legitimate investment scheme will talk about share or commodity prices, dividends or the income a company can expect from selling products and services. People marketing a scam will be less specific. They'll talk about cryptocurrency or forex trading, Bitcoin mining or they'll say it's a motshelo or 'gifting' scheme. If you ask them how profits are generated they'll do their best not to answer. Because they have no answers.

Those promoting a genuine investment will welcome questions. They'll happily give you complete answers to every question you ask. However, scammers will very quickly become defensive and ask you why you're asking so many questions. "Just trust me", they'll say. Anyone who says this is trying to scam you.

Above all, scammers will make incredible claims about how much money you can make from their scheme. They'll tell you that small 'investments' can earn a great deal of money. They'll also ask you to invest more and more money, encouraging you to 'upgrade' to higher levels with promises of even greater profits. That's a sure sign of a scam.

A common trick they'll try is to show you bank payment messages. These are almost always faked but a few will be genuine because they do sometimes pay the victims a little money to make the scam seem legit. It's not, it's a criminal enterprise and the law makes it just as illegal to join a scam as it does to promote one.

Finally, remember this simple truth. Anyone who invites you to join their money-making scheme wants to make money from you, not with you.

Will they fix my TV?

Mr Harriman I need your help sir. I bought a 58 inch smart TV at a store in Tonota last year July. On the 14th December I found the screen cracked. I reported it to the manager they took it but they don't want to refund me for the television. They say its my fault I broke it while it was mounted on the wall.


I think we need to ask one simple question. Who caused the damage to the TV? The problem is it's hard to say. It's possible that the TV was damaged before it was installed at your place or during the installation. However, the store have already suggested that there's no evidence they broke it and it's more likely that it was broken while you had it. From their point of view, the fact that you took 5-6 months to report it to them supports that.

I'll contact them for you but honestly, I'm not optimistic.

Saturday 10 February 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

A warning – "Miracle Farm"

We all remember Ecoplexus. That scam started just over a year ago and promised people massive profits from a mysterious "investment" in solar power technology and generation. They were very smart. They used the name of a genuine, legitimate company based in the USA that does a lot of work in the solar business. But the scammers had no connection with this company. They were just exploiting the name.

I don't know how many people fell for this scam but it must have been thousands and between them they gave the scammers tens of millions of Pula. We warned people here in The Voice and on Facebook as early as January 2023 and luckily, many people took the warnings seriously. But many didn't. In May last year the scam finally collapsed but not before much of the money people had paid into local bank accounts had left the country. However, some was left here and that has since been frozen until the authorities can work out who deserves some money back. I think it's good that some people get some of their money back but personally I believe that anyone who actively promoted the scam shouldn't get a single thebe returned to them. They were willing participants in a criminal scam.

The bad news is that the scammers are back. There's a new scam that just started that calls itself Miracle Farm or Miracle Farm Capital or Miracle Farm Management and it's very similar to Ecoplexus. This time they make claims about making money in farming. 



For example, they say that if you invest P100 in peanut farming you'll make profits of P140 after 20 days. If you invest P12,000 in wheat, you'll make profits of P84,000 after 9 months. Like Ecoplexus, they have an Android app but it's all lies, just like the lies the Ecoplexus crooks told us.

These Miracle Farming scammers claim to be based in New York but the fake registration documents they send people can't decide if they're registered in New York, California or Colorado. The people promoting the scheme refuse to communicate by video or voice, just like Ecoplexus. That's for a very simple reason. They don't want us to hear their real voices because we'll spot their accents immediately.


Please don't fall for this scam and don't allow anyone you know to fall for it either. Spread the word as far as possible. The lesson from Ecoplexus is that only by standing and fighting together as a community can we beat these criminals.

Can I get a refund?

Hello Mr Harriman. I really need your help. I bought school uniform from the other lady in Mochudi and I'm not happy with her service. She gave me girls trousers instead of boys trousers and she refused to exchange for me nor give me my money back. I ended up going to police but I didn't get help. I went to the byelaw people where she took the trousers and told me that she will send my money during the day but she didn't do that till now. I posted on Facebook asking for help asking if people can buy the trousers so that I can buy the one for boys but she went to report me at the police and court. I'm waiting for the court to call me.


This is insane. This sort of business person, someone who delivers the wrong products, refuses to exchange them, promises a refund, then fails to do so and then reports their customer to the Police for complaining doesn't deserve to be in business. They deserve to fail.

I'm happy to contact this lady and suggest various ways that she can fix this issue if you like?

I think she needs to understand that she has a very simple obligation to deliver what you paid for or give you a refund. She also needs to understand that complaining in public about this sort of experience is a reasonable thing to do. Any complaints we post in public are a form of free speech, so long as they're reasonable, polite, true, not malicious and expressed in good faith. You gave her several opportunities to fix the problem nicely. She's the one who needs to be held accountable, not you.

Saturday 27 January 2024

The Voice - Consumer Voice

Where's my compensation?

Hello Richard. I kindly need your assistance. It is about my workers compensation claim that has been going on for long. The insurance Company is not committed to paying the money though I have done everything they requested. They are really failing me. I gave them the claim form last year November and they replied this year that they need me to do a second medical opinion of which I did. They keep going back and forth. 2 weeks back they wanted another medical opinion and I did and gave them the quotation. Right now they are not responding or taking my calls, a whole big Insurance company for that matter. I've spent a lot of money on transport due to this matter but no progress.

The accident was in 2020 and I haven't found help ever since then I tried everything. I tried to enquire to them once and they told me that they can sue me for placing a query at Consumer Watchdog.


This is ridiculous. You had an accident more than 3 years ago and your compensation claim still hasn't been processed? That's not acceptable. Section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act says that "where a supplier undertakes to perform any services for or on behalf of a consumer, the consumer has a right to … timely performance and completion of those services (and) timely notice of any unavoidable delay". Clearly this insurance company, or perhaps the insurance broker used by your employer, don't understand what "timely performance" means, or they don't care. Or they just want to delay you until you give up.

I contacted the insurance company about your issue so let's see what they say.

And their suggestion that if you consult Consumer Watchdog they'll sue you? Here's my message to them. Don't sue your customer. Sue me. Go on, I dare you.

Is it too late to get my money back?

I reported a fraud case on the 12th of December 2023. We were scammed by fraudsters pretending to be from BURS and they gave us a purchase order and we then procured from the "Supplier" via EFT to their bank in SA at an amount of ZAR61,835 on 8th December. After 3 days we discovered this Supplier works with the fraudsters in South Africa. As soon as we found out it was a scam two working days after the transfer we went to our bank with a Police Report and asked them to freeze the funds before they reflected on the scammers account. They followed their normal protocol and said in 30 days they will give us a response.

I have been following up with them and they keep saying the other bank in SA says they will give them feedback and they don't even know if the funds were frozen or not. Their 30 days elapses on the 12th of Jan and they can't even tell me if the funds were frozen or not!

I'm had a meeting with the fraud department head, they said the issue was assigned to an investigator with the bank in SA and they are still awaiting their response since its 2 different banks in 2 different countries.


This is going to be complicated. I think you should also prepare yourself for disappointment.

We've seen many of these supplier scams in the last few years. It usually starts with an email from what appears to be a major state-owned enterprise like BURS inviting you to supply them with expensive products. However, the strange thing is that the invitation tells the victim which company can supply these goods. The victim then contacts this fake company and is offered a cheap deal on these products. They then transfer the money to them. That's all there is to it. The victim's money is gone, never to be seen again.

In your case you were very wise to inform your bank as soon as possible but the way these scammers work is they transfer any money they get from victims overseas as soon as possible. In the 4 days between your transfer and you alerting the bank, it's possible the money disappeared.

Let's hope you were in time.

Saturday 13 January 2024

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

This phone isn't new!

On the 29th December I purchased a phone, got home and the phone was not charging and it has photos inside that I found in it and it overheats when you switch it on and that's after hardly 24 hours of purchase. The next day on the 30th I returned to the store to lodge a complaint and was told that no exchange or refund will be made. Instead they just swapped chargers and gave me a Huawei charger while the phone is a Vivo brand. Since they had already taken my money the guys didn't even want to listen to my complaint, but if you purchase a mere pie from grocery store and it's not fresh you are given a refund.

I asked them to at least change to the other one and they refused saying I should have brought a better phone instead of crying for cheap one.


I wish you a very Happy New Year and I wish this cellphone store a very Unhappy New Year. I wish most businesses, the ones that work hard to serve their customer well, the very best of luck and I hope they prosper. But occasionally I hear about companies that I hope fail. Maybe this is one of them?

It's not too much to ask to expect a product that works. The law says the same thing. 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". Simple. But too difficult for this store to understand.

Section 13 of the Act says that a store that sells second-hand goods (like a phone containing the previous owner's photos) "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". Again, simple. Again, too difficult for this store.

Section 16 says that if goods are faulty within 6 months of purchase the consumer can return them for a repair, replacement or refund. The store can choose which they offer but they can't just decide to ignore their offences.

I contacted the store and they haven't yet replied to my messages. I'll let you know if they do but meanwhile you can all join in the conversation about this in the Consumer Watchdog Facebook group.

The repair didn't work!

My daughter had a problem with her iPhone on 22 December 2023 and she took it to be repaired. She was charged P800 for fixing which she paid and later given the phone same day on the pretext that the phone is ok. The next day the phone gave her the same problem. She went back to the store and the repairer refused to assist. He refused and was too arrogant. She took it to another repairer who told her that the screen which was installed is not an iPhone screen and promised to order a new screen for the iPhone.

So the first guy remained with P800 just like that. He should refund us so that we pay for the repairer who promised to order a new screen. Please help.


Another company that deserves to fail. I understand, like I'm sure you and your daughter understand, mistakes happen and repairs aren't always as easy as we might think. However, if what you've been told is correct, the first repairer is either incompetent or a liar. Or both. I don't think it's unreasonable to have an iPhone screen replaced with an iPhone screen, is it?

The good news is that the Consumer Protection Act also includes the quality of repair work. Section 17 says that a company that repairs something must offer "a warranty on every new or re-conditioned part installed during any repair or maintenance work, and the labour required to install it, for a period of three months". One day isn't enough.

I tried contacting the first repair guy but he's not answering calls or replying to messages. Maybe a call from the Competition and Consumer Authority would encourage him more?