The Voice - Consumer's Voice

A one-week warranty?

I am writing to seek your urgent assistance with a product complaint. I purchased a kettle from a store in Mogoditshane. I only used the kettle for two days, on Monday and Tuesday. During this short time, I noticed that the handle became very loose and floppy. When I looked closer, I saw that the handle already had a small crack. Furthermore, when the kettle was filled with water, the weight caused the base of the kettle to completely fall off. Yesterday, I took the defective kettle back to the store. Unfortunately, they refused to assist me with either a replacement or a refund. When I bought the kettle, the staff only plugged it in to test if it switched on. They did not check the item for physical defects, cracks, or structural wear and tear. Because the item was faulty from the start and broke within 48 hours of normal use, I am requesting for a full refund or a working replacement. I look forward to your response to help resolve this matter.

Here we go again. Yet another store that has no understanding of consumer rights. Section 16 of the Consumer Protection Act says that every consumer has a right to return a faulty item to a supplier within six months of purchasing it and then they can repair it, replace it or refund you. It’s really not complicated. A business that doesn’t know this or chooses to ignore it should not be in business.

You sent me a copy of the receipt they gave you and it gets worse. They claim that electrical items only have a warranty of one week. That’s complete nonsense. It’s at least six months.

I contacted the store but I don’t think they don’t want to talk. Let’s alert the Competition and Consumer Authority. Maybe they’ll have more luck?

How did they get my details?

On the 15 May 2026, I received an unsolicited call from a mobile number. The caller identified themselves as a “call centre agent" from my bank conducting a KYC update for online banking. The caller already had my full name, ID number, and email address, which raised no initial suspicion. I was asked to confirm details and then share a One Time PIN sent to my phone. I complied. Immediately after, I realized this was likely fraud as my bank does not use cellphone numbers nor request OTPs.

I immediately called the call centre and reported the incident and requested all my banking channels be blocked immediately. I formally lodged a complaint regarding the incident and specifically raised a concern about how fraudsters obtained my personal data that should only be held by the bank. I was promised feedback. My email is not in the public domain anywhere or my cellphone number. My username was compromised, which is only accessible to bank employees.

I have received no feedback, case reference number, or outcome of any investigation.

This is obviously extremely concerning. Firstly, I’m glad you realized very quickly that this was a scam. You did exactly the right thing by immediately contacting the bank and asking them to block your account. Once scammers have access to your account, they will very quickly transfer as much money as possible and I’m glad you got there in time.

I also share your concern about how they obtained your details. However, it’s often surprisingly easy to get this information. Many of us share a lot of these details online in social media apps, and also in everyday circumstances, such as signing in to a building we’re visiting. It’s really important that we only give our identity information to people who really need it. If anyone else asks for these details, we must always politely decline.

I contacted the bank and asked them to get in touch with you.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where are my curtains?

Hi Richard, I engaged a company to supply me with curtains. I paid up to 80% (P22k) deposit as requested but they have not delivered. I call but there’s no answer, no response to texts as well. The last update was after I had informed them I am going to report them and take legal action. They called and said part of the rail curtains I had ordered are ready and I can go view them. I did give them feedback but no response thereafter. Beginning of May, they had said can we give them a week or 2 to refund but unfortunately it is now June and no response from them.

It’s time to stop being polite. I don’t mean you should be rude, that never works, but you need to be much more assertive.

I suggest that you give them a deadline and make it clear to them that unless they refund you the full P22,000 before that date, you’ll go to the Small Claims Court for an order against them.

We all want to support small, local businesses but that doesn’t mean they can treat us unfairly. It’s also really important that these businesses learn how to run their companies effectively and profitably. I’m certainly no business expert but they need to learn about business planning, cashflow and how important it is to have cash reserves in case of problems. In these difficult economic times, it’s not just consumers who need to be prudent, it’s the small businesses we all want to thrive. They can start by speaking to the Local Enterprise Authority for some very cheap training and advice.

If you like, I’ll also get in touch with them.

They won’t return my money!

Mr. Richard, I need your help, I bought a car from a dealer on Monday afternoon which he told me that the does not have any engine or gearbox problem but on Tuesday morning I realized that the car has an engine fault. I called him and I also told him I can't afford to buy new engine. Its better he refund me back or give me another car then he said he don't have another car to give. Also he already used the money but he will sell the car and refund me. Yesterday he brought 2 customers to check the car and they rejected it because of the same thing I discovered. Now he doesn't want to return my money as we agreed. Please help me Richard.

This is yet another example of how risky buying a second-hand car can be. That doesn’t mean we should all buy brand new cars, very few of us can afford that ridiculous expense, but it means we must be extremely careful before spending our money on a second-hand vehicle.

By far the most important thing anyone should do is to have any second-hand vehicle inspected by an expert before paying. A few of us do know how to inspect a vehicle, but most of us have no idea. That’s why we need to rely on specialists. There are plenty of talented mechanics out there who will inspect a vehicle for you for a small fee. Even if it costs a few hundred Pula, it’s worth it because it might save tens of thousands.

In your situation, I think the best thing to do is to contact the Competition and Consumer Authority and ask them to investigate. They have a long history of dealing with second-hand car dealers and I know they’re capable of applying serious pressure in situations like this. I’m also happy to contact the dealer as well.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can he insult me?

I need your help understanding something. I bought a washing machine using laybye at a store at Game City where you get to take the goods and pay them off within 4 months. 2 payments before I could finish payments I lost my job and went to the store to let them know. They told me now my terms will change to hire purchase. I made payments when I could and still updated them that I didn’t get a job yet. I started getting calls from the store from a man who insults me and is rude all the time. I went to the store to let them know the man is being abusive but got no help. I know I’m supposed to get the calls because I still owe this store but what do I do when this man now calls? He doesn’t even say hi and starts to go off of me over the phone. Several times I hung up on him. Today he called and I answered and the first thing he said was not hello, he started shouting insults. I hung up on him again. Is there a way you can help?

There are several things here that worry me. Firstly, how did they force you to convert a laybye to a hire purchase agreement? They are completely different, almost opposite ways to buy things. With a laybye you pay money in advance for a few months and then collect your goods. With hire purchase you hire the goods and pay the store a monthly fee for a couple of years until you eventually become the owner. Laybyes are a good way to buy things, hire purchase is a bad way. I don’t understand how they thought they could change the agreement and exploit you this way.

Secondly, if you couldn’t afford the laybye payments, how did they expect you to pay the hire purchase instalments? Something doesn’t add up here.

Finally, there is absolutely no excuse for this man’s rudeness. It’s also illegal. Section 6 of the Consumer Protection Act forbids a company from using

“force, coercion, undue influence, pressure, duress, harassment, unfair tactics or any other similar conduct against a consumer”.

This man is clearly harassing you and being grossly unfair.

I contacted the company and we’ll see how they react.

How long will I be blacklisted?

Please assist. So I had taken a loan with my bank and went 2 months last year without work, so I incurred some arrears. I cleared the loan in February this year. However, last month I tried to get something with a 6 months hire purchase but I was told the bank blacklisted me. So now I want to ask how to go about this? Where do I call to ask as to when I will be removed from the blacklist? I am kindly asking for your assistance.

Unfortunately, there’s probably no good news here. If you have a history of arrears with your debts, lenders will share that information in the databases held by credit reference bureaux. That way, other potential lenders can see your history so they can make an informed decision about lending you money or offering you credit. Those records usually remain online for two years after the debt is finally settled.

There’s nothing wrong or improper about this, it simply allows lenders to make sensible decisions.

But maybe this actually is good news? You managed to avoid buying something on hire purchase which might be a bonus if your finances have been a little difficult recently. If possible, it’s much better to save some money every month and then buy things for cash. It’s a lot less risky.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where’s the deposit slip?

Hello Sir. I have an outstanding claim payment from my insurance company. My grandmother joined their funeral policy through her bank. They say I must produce the deposit slip for 2019 when she joined but I only have for 2020 October and 2022. They say I should look for them.

I asked them to ask their Francistown branch as I was depositing there since I don’t have them. They say they don't have the records too. I changed from hand depositing to their account to debit order around June 2022 because I was staying far from the bank. My grandmother passed away last year November and until now I am still waiting for the claim payment. I was paying monthly premium accordingly from the date I joined till October 2025. Please help.

Firstly, I’m sorry for your loss. Many companies need to look carefully at the way they keep records. Can’t this company see that your grandmother paid them in 2019? If she missed a payment that long ago, why haven’t they mentioned it before? Why are they only complaining about this after she passed away?

Obviously it’s our job to make sure we don’t skip any payments but it’s also the job of these companies to keep us updated and let us know if there’s a problem. They’re the ones with huge resources, teams of skilled staff and expensive IT and AI tools that can help them and us. Mostly us, because we’re the people who pay their wages.

I contacted the insurance company and they’re looking into it. I’ll let you know what they say.

What’s my landlord doing?

Hi Mr Richard. I moved into a yard in Mogoditshane two weeks ago and on our second day here we bought water. Firstly it was confusing that we don't buy water for ourselves but the landlord does. So we send money to him and he said the minimum amount is P100, it was confusing because we've stayed in yards where P20 water was enough for a month plus 2 weeks. Meanwhile here it's not even 3rd week and the water is very low.

What guarantee do we have that he actually does buy for P100? He doesn't issue out receipts. We asked but he was very dismissive and it was our first experience since we are new here. When you call he's quick to say he's busy he will call back and he doesn't. Plus, he was pushing for us to pay security fee which is equivalent to rent and we told him we don't have that money. The yard is unfenced and has no gate, it's not safe at all, and it's very dirty there's bushes in the yard side. There are 12 units here and the majority of them say the man is a difficult person and he doesn't listen to them.

I don’t trust your landlord, and neither should you. It’s obvious that he’s trying to hide something. The good news is that he’s doing this to everyone, not just to you. If you all group together and demand receipts for the water and to see the meter readings he’ll find it difficult to refuse.

It’s also extremely important that every one of you gets a tenancy agreement in writing as soon as possible. If, as a group, you can negotiate this, perhaps you should consider the idea of the security fee, but I don’t think you have to. Remember that he needs the rent you all pay every month and if you act together, he might understand how important is to have a conversation with you all. If not, you should think about moving somewhere else.

The lesson is that whenever anyone rents a property, they must have a written agreement that describes how the relationship will work. Without such an agreement, it’s always the tenants that suffer the most.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

I was scammed!

I have been scammed of about P8,700 by people, a lady to be precise claiming to be from my bank. Honestly my guard was down because the bank sent me an email requesting that I do KYC. So the person talked about helping me to complete it, and in the process they cloned my banking app and wiped all the money I had there. They even bought themselves airtime. Like I said my guard was down. This started yesterday when I was sent a link purported to be from the bank which said my account is due for an app update. It said that to confirm my details I must click a link to stay compliant before the 11 May 26. Is there any assistance you can give?

Unfortunately there’s not much that can be done. As I’m sure you know, this scam had no connection with your bank.

I looked at the link you sent me and it connects to a very high-quality copy of your bank’s web site which asks for your online banking username and password. Once you’ve entered those details another screen appears that asks for your full name, home address, cellphone number, email address and ID details. It then asks for your card number and all the security details for your card including the CVV code and your PIN. Finally, it sends you an OTP code and who knows what the scammers behind this will do with that if you share it with them.

This is how scammers seize control of your bank account, simply by asking you for all those details. The only hope is that these scammers have a local partner, the one who you spoke to on the phone who has a Botswana cell number. However, it’s likely that they contacted you using WhatsApp so who knows where in the world they might really be.

The only practical suggestion I can make is that you go immediately to the Police. It’s very unlikely that they can recover your money but they might be able to prevent this happening to someone else.

The lesson from this is never to trust a link that you receive from an unknown source. Never.

They took all her money!

Hello Mr Harriman. Kindly assist my mother with her bank. Yesterday her salary was credited and the bank today took her entire salary saying it is for her credit card. They were supposed to have taken P200 only but took the whole amount. Now they are saying they can only assist on Monday. This is completely not okay.

My mother is now stuck without money and cannot pay anything. She went to two branches today but was told the credit card team will get in touch with her but they never did. She just called their toll free number again and they are saying they have knocked off she can try the bank again on Monday. At the bank they kept saying the credit card team will contact her but they never did.

This is completely unacceptable. It’s also a good example of how large financial institutions like banks often forget that amounts that are small to them aren’t small to us. They forget that the impact on consumers can be devastating. Even if the amount they deducted was justified, there’s no excuse just to take it without calling your mother first to explain what they planned to do and discuss alternative solutions.

I contacted the bank and luckily they seemed to take the issue seriously.

Update. The money was refunded within a few hours.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can’t they waive the charges?

Good day Mr Harriman. I hope you're good. Sorry to bother you. I would like to know what I can do in the middle of the predicament that I am in. I had current account with my first bank, and because of limited services I moved to another bank in around 2019. I did not know I had to close the account, I just assumed it will automatically close maybe after 6 months of inactivity. Unfortunately that wasn't the case because I am now told to pay more that P3,000 which apparently is the arrears.

My question is, is there any way they could somehow waive those charges because I wasn't using their services all these years? The saddest part is I recently enquired through their centralised email contact and was told if I activate it, those charges won't be viable but to my surprised the branch rep said it's not the possible and I have to pay. Please assist if there's any way to go about it.

The bad news is that bank accounts don’t go away if you ignore them. I guess that the P3,000 they claim you owe is either monthly bank charges or interest on any overdraft or debt you had with them. I would have expected them to contact you repeatedly over the last seven years and warn you about the increasing charges, but this clearly didn’t happen. What bank customers often overlook, or maybe never knew, is that it’s our responsibility to maintain our accounts and ensure they’re managed properly. If you still have your original banking agreement, you’ll probably find that in the small print where it says they can do this.

I’ve contacted the bank to see if there’s anything they can to help. I’ll let you know what they say.

Where’s my investment?

Sir kindly help me. I have been paying an investment policy from 2022 and it just lapsed in February because I failed to pay it from December because I got sick. My life is now a mess and I'm surprised to hear that I lost all that I have been saving all along. How does one lose an investment?

Please contact them for them to at least return the money or at least 60% of what I have saved and if not then reinstate my policy.

This will depend on the terms and conditions in the policy you signed.

It’s possible this is a case of what they call “front-loading” of commission. When an agent sells an investment policy, they earn a commission payment. However, the investment policy might last for 5 years, 10 years or even longer. Instead of the commission being paid over the lifetime of the policy, all of it is paid in the first year or two. There’s nothing wrong with that but it means that in the first 1-2 years, the commission can be as much as the premiums you pay into the policy. That means there’s nothing saved in that period. You only start accruing money and interest after that period is over, sometimes not until the third year. The problem is that agents don’t always explain this, even though they’re meant to.

You also need to look at what the terms and conditions say about what happens when you default on the monthly payments.

I’ll contact the company and ask them to investigate your situation and maybe find a solution.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where’s my compensation?

I am in need of your services. Last year I was injured while shopping at a clothing store. They were negligent and ushered me into a fitting room that was not safe for use. I was hit by a heavy metal that they did not secure it to a wall and it hit me on the head after I closed the door. A scan report showed that there was distress on my head.

Having had conversations with them they seem to only want to reimburse the medical fees I incurred. Is there no law in Botswana that addresses compensation of consumers while accessing shops just as there is workmans compensation. Is there no such a law for consumer protection?

Firstly, I’m very sorry for the pain and inconvenience that you must have experienced as a result of this incident. It’s clearly unacceptable for the store to be in a state that might cause injuries like this.

Obviously, it’s their responsibility to pay for any medical bills you incurred as a result of their carelessness. The good news seems to be that they’re willing to do that. However, I’m not sure what else you want them to compensate you for? If you lost income or you paid travel costs, then clearly they need to pay for that but what else is there? I think it’s very important that we don’t go down the route they travelled in the United States and other countries who’ve developed a compensation culture where people sue for the slightest things.

I’m happy to contact the store and ensure that they’ll cover your medical bills and incidental costs but it looks like they’re already willing to do that?

Why are they taking so long?

Hi, Richard! There has been an ongoing issue regarding a filling station of which late last month their fuel tanks were contaminated. Water in the tanks had filled over 50 vehicles which then had mechanical issues. Others got fixed, the other one for my friend, she was given a go ahead to have it fixed and bring invoices for refund. I had to pop out P8,000 for the vehicle repair.

To date, she is being taken from pillar to post by the insurance brokers. Almost a month. I then asked them if BERA and Head Office are aware but I can't get answers.

What hurts most is that she is using the vehicle for Yango business that is why I had to assist so that she can put food on the table. Worst of all, when we confronted the filling station and the broker, I clearly mentioned that we just need repairs money, not loss of business money. So the question is, had I not fixed the vehicle, it could still be stuck for almost month? How can she be assisted?

This is unacceptable. Firstly the filling station damaged your friend’s car and more than 50 other vehicles. I understand this must be a challenge for them to fix every vehicle but that’s the price of doing business. They need to get moving.

I understand that they are dealing with many insurance claims through the insurance broker and that can complicate the situation. Any delays by the broker and the underwriting insurance company are obviously passed on to your friend and the other victims.

I’ll contact the insurance broker and ask them why this is taking so long.