The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Must I pay?

Good afternoon Mr Harriman, I would like your opinion or possible help with the following Issue. I was involved in an accident some time ago. No one injured. Yes eventually I was charged with the usual driving a vehicle without due attention. Now the car I was driving is not insured but the other was insured. So the lady opted to use her insurance to cover the cost of repair. Now after maybe more than a year, I have received a demand letter from the insurance demanding me to pay all costs of the repair which is P27,000.

Is this lawful? What is the purpose of insurance if after paying premiums the insurance company demand all costs from the offender? I will share the demand letter as directed by your response. Thank you always for your help. 

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when you don't have vehicle insurance. It doesn't matter whether the other person has insurance or not, as the offender, you pay the bills. 

The key issue here is that the other lady was paying for a vehicle insurance policy and that policy protects her, not you. She was paying her insurance company to take the financial risk on her behalf so if there's an accident they pay her bills and she doesn't suffer financially.

But neither should the insurance company pay the bills if it wasn't their client who caused the accident. They'll do their best to recover the money they spent compensating their client and the person they'll chase for that money is you. You were the one who caused the accident and your admission of guilt or conviction for driving without due care and attention is all the evidence they need that you're the guilty party.

The simple lesson is this. Insurance benefits the person paying for it and nobody else. That's why every vehicle owner needs it. This might seem hard to believe but you were lucky only to cause damage costing P27,000. I've heard of cases where people caused crashes that completely destroyed another vehicle and were faced with bills of over P500,000. If you'd had a third-party vehicle insurance policy your insurance company would have paid this bill for you.

I suggest you talk to the insurance company and negotiate a repayment plan you can afford because insurance companies don't forgive debts like this.

I also suggest you shop around for a third-party vehicle insurance policy so that if this happens again, you might be better prepared.

What is insurance?

There is such an enormous lack of understanding about insurance, how it works and who it benefits. It's worth spending a moment to understand what it is.

I found a nice quote on Wikipedia that said that insurance "is something people buy to protect themselves from losing money". It went on to say that consumers "who buy insurance pay a premium (often paid every month) and promise to be careful". In exchange for this, Wikipedia explains, "if something bad happens to the person or thing that is insured, the company that sold the insurance will pay the money back. However, there are some times when the company will not have to pay the money back, such as if the person was not careful."

These policies can cover a wide range of things, including property such as our house and belongings, our vehicles and even the vehicles belonging to other people that might be damaged when there's a disaster. They can also cover our lives and those of our loved ones and even our health. It can cover the health of our employees and the people who visit our offices. In all of these cases, if something bad happens that costs money, the insurance company will pay the costs instead of the policyholder.

However, it's very important to carefully read any policy you consider and make sure you understand exactly how it works. For instance some vehicle insurance policies don't cover you if you are charged and convicted or you admit guilt following an incident. Most life insurance policies won't cover you if you engage in dangerous sports or activities.

The commonest argument I hear against having insurance is that it's expensive. Well, firstly, it's NOT that expensive and it's sometimes a LOT cheaper than NOT having it.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can I return it?

Can you help me? I bought a fluffy mat and I paid P1100. I had bought another one at P1200 before this one and a fluffy blanket, so I negotiated to P1100. But It's not the same as the one I bought first. It's low quality and now they can't take it and refund me, I don't know their offices coz they claim to be mobile. They don't take my calls. It's been 3 months since I bought the mat. I Whatsapp and call them every day. I have run out of options coz they don't even take my office call since they established its me calling them.

So I have been calling them to get it so that they can refund me but they not taking my calls after they agreed to collect it.

I used to be dismissive of many businesses that didn't have offices and that are 'mobile' but that's changed completely in the last few years. In fact I'm now really supportive of start-up businesses that operate from home or have distributed workforces. That obviously works for technology businesses but it's increasingly how call centers and the service industry operate. And then came Covid and that forced almost everyone to think carefully about they run their business. Yes, we still need checkout workers in supermarkets but even that's changing now that so many of them offer deliveries. So in 2021 we can expect to see more and more companies being 'mobile'.

But that doesn't change their obligation, as a supplier of goods, to do so as required by the Consumer Protection Act. Section 15 (1) of the Act says that a consumer "has the right to receive goods which are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects". You have the good luck to have previously bought the same item from this supplier so you know how good the products can be and can spot when the later goods aren't as good.

I contacted the supplier and told them that you'd been in touch. Let's see if they want to talk now?

How do I know if someone is trying to scam me?

The last year has seen a dramatic increase in the number of scams that are trying to exploit our ignorance and steal our money. Almost everyone on Facebook will have seen invitations to "invest" in Bitcoin, forex trading or binary options. All of them are scams. All of them want your money.

Here are some tips on how to spot these scams and how you can avoid falling victim to them.

The first question you should always ask yourself is why someone wants you to join their scheme. What's in it for them? Why would they want someone else to make money alongside them? Surely anyone would keep a money-making scheme to themselves rather than sharing the money with others, in particular a stranger?

The reason is very simple. They want you to join their scheme because they want to make money FROM you, not WITH you. They make money from recruiting new victims, not from any genuine investment.

Another clue it's a scam is if the people asking you to join or invest are shy about who and where they are. You should always ask these people to say exactly where they are and then demand they show themselves. Insist on a video call. Insist on hearing their voices. One of the scammers I recently spoke to claimed to be a successful businessman in the USA but was very reluctant to send me either a voice note or appear on video. I eventually persuaded him to speak on the phone and guess what, his accent was much more West African than American. The sound of chickens in the background was also not quite right for the multi-millionaire he claimed to be.

The most important clue is the remarkable claims these scammers always make. I've recently seen people claiming that their scheme can increase an "investment" of $350 to $3,500 in just a week. That's an impossible 1,000% return in a week. There's no investment of any sort that can offer returns like that. Others talk about daily returns or 2-3% or more. That's per day, not per year.

Anyone who makes claims like these is a liar and can't be trusted. Please help us by spreading the word to everyone you know so they fall victim to these scams.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Won't they change my shoes?

Kindly assist. Almost 2 weeks ago a bought 2 pairs of shoes from a store at Riverwalk. I am between sizes 5 and 6 depending on the cut. I had been allowed to try on the shoes in the store and a 6 was a perfect fit for the other shoe, while the other pair was a bit tight. I thought it was because my feet were a bit swollen at the time and would fit well when the swelling has gone down. I was wrong, it seems they are a small cut. I then went back to the store after a week as I was away on a business trip only to be told I cannot exchange the shoes as I did not have the receipt. I understand that their policy requires I should have a receipt, unfortunately I must have thrown it out.

The shoe has never been worn and still in the box and all I need it to exchange it for a more fitting size. Twice I have been to the store and they are plainly refusing to exchange for me. I have met the supervisor only, who told me he narrated my request to the manager who still insists they cannot help me. I am so frustrated as I really like the shoes and they were a bit expensive at just under P500. Thank you in advance for your assistance and stay blessed.

I know why stores say you can't return something without a receipt. They believe that some customers are lying, cheating crooks who do their best to steal money from stores by trying to return things they didn't actually buy there. But how often does that really happen? I don't believe that it's a common thing. All it does is insult the majority of us who are decent, honest people who just want a fair deal.

My problem is also that it's a bit lazy. Surely stores can see in their computer systems that I came and spent money in their store on a particular product on the date I claimed? Is it really that difficult? Surely their returns policy should talk about "proof of purchase" rather than a receipt?

The good news is that I contacted the MD of the company and he took a look at the situation, made a phone call or two and he told me "Thank you very much for this. We have since contacted the customer and sorted the issue."

There's a lesson for every company, every store, restaurant, supplier of anything. When things go wrong, treat the customer with respect, don't start by assuming they're a crook and do your best to find a solution. It's a shame that it took the MD to fix it but all's well that ends well.

Must I pay for storage?

Hi Mr Harriman I need help. I bought roofing materials last year in the first lockdown. Because of the lockdown restrictions we agreed that they keep the materials for me until I'm in the roofing stage or I started roofing. To my surprise in early February I sent the builders to go fetch materials and I'm now told I have to pay an extra 12k. They are now saying its for storage. it wasn't agreed on coz I could have taken them earlier to avoid the extra charges.

Is this OK or I'm being crooked by the shop manager?

The only thing that matters here is what was agreed in writing. There's a general rule that once an agreement is in writing that writing is all of the agreement. Verbal agreements and unilateral decisions by one party don't matter. One party to an agreement can't just make things up or decide that they want to add something to the agreement without the consent of the other party.

Meanwhile, it is quite common for suppliers to charge you a storage fee and that's probably reasonable. The goods you bought were taking up space in their warehouse and that cost them money. BUT they needed to tell you that first and get you to agree to it. You could have taken an informed decision about whether to take the goods then or later.

I think you should tell them that you never agreed to a storage fee and they can't enforce a charge you didn't agree to. Let's see how they react to a consumer who knows their rights.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

They damaged the laptop they were trying to repair!

Kindly help me here with advice. My cousin recently bought a laptop from a furniture store in Maun and within the first few weeks, it started having problems with the charging system. She returned it and yesterday they called her to come collect it but now it comes with scratches on its cover. When she ask about them they say, it is because it was transported to the Technician without its box. Is that really a good thing for them to say? Is there anything she can do, like getting an exchange for a new one or refund because now it is stressing her. Your advice would be much appreciated Sir.

Is that really a good thing for them to say? Obviously not.

Is there anything she can do? Yes. She can get angry.

Firstly, the store was obviously required to fix the laptop as it was still under warranty. At least they tried to do that.

However, Section 14 (1) (b) of the Consumer Protection Act says that when a supplier like this one 

"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".

I think it's reasonable for a consumer like you and me to expect a repair done under warranty NOT to involve further damaging the product being repaired, don't you?

Their feeble excuse that it was transported without its box is just silly. The should have found another box. They're a furniture store, aren't they? They should be experts in packing. They should be Olympic Gold Medal quality packagers. It's simple unacceptable that they were so careless that they caused new damage to an already faulty laptop.

I suggest that we both contact the store and explain this to them using very simple, short words so that even they can understand that they needed to take some care with your property.

Whether they replace the laptop, fix it or give her a refund is up to them but they need to choose one of those options very quickly.

Where's my couch?

Good day Richard, I need your assistance on this matter. In December we bought an L-shaped couch from a bedding store in North Gate mall. Within 2 weeks the couch started tearing up and we notified them of this in January since we were away for the holidays. They came to collect the couch on February 10th after a whole month of struggling to get them to collect it. They gave us a 2-seater couch for the interim and promised that we will get the same couch that we had initially bought but with a different material. Its been over a month now and we are still waiting. I called again this morning they promised to call back but still no communication from them.

Their response was that they are fighting the supplier over the issue. So we are the ones who are now suffering because of it.

It's not good enough.

The facts are very simple, simple enough even for this store to understand. They sold you something faulty and the Consumer Protection Act says very clearly that in this situation they need either to repair it, replace it or refund you. They were within their rights to repair it I guess but they also have an obligation to do so promptly. Section 14 (1) (a) of the Consumer Protection Act says a supplier like these should offer the "timely performance and completion" of any services they deliver.

And a second point. Who cares what their supplier is doing? Did you buy the couch from this store or their supplier? You bought it from the store and it's THEIR job to respect your rights. They can fight as much as they like with their supplier behind the scenes but it shouldn't be your responsibility or concern.

Again, lets both contact the store and offer them some free education on their obligations. 

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where's my borehole?

May you kindly help me by contacting a company. We have paid them in November 2019 a sum exceeding P100,000 for drilling a borehole at our field. They came to do the work in February 2020 and for 3 weeks they were still at our place and could not do anything right. They were not able to give us a finished product ie. a borehole with water due to the fact that they left the rods in the well and all those things. In a nutshell, we didn't get value for our money. So they agreed to come a drill another borehole for us.

Richard, little did we know that 2 years down the line we will still be without a borehole and still chasing a company with all the resources but do not want to fulfil their promise. To cut the long story short the 2 Directors always put us from pillar to post and as of Friday 26th February 2021 they are not picking up our calls. A Director promised that they will come to our place very soon and on probing him as to when exactly, he did not want to commit.

Now from 1st March he is not answering our calls for why? Only he knows. So please can you intervene and tell them that we are losing our patience and we are forced to ask for a refund if they are unable to come to our field/place this weekend?

I think the time has come to get angry. You paid this company an enormous amount of mon
ey to do a job for you that they have failed to do.

Section 14 (1) 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 … timely performance and completion of those services (and) timely notice of any unavoidable delay". 

It also says that consumers can expect:

"performance of the services in a manner and quality that consumers are reasonably entitled to expect".

Cleary this company has failed all of those tests and needs to face up to their obligations.And what are those obligations? The Act goes further. It says that when a supplier "fails to perform a service to the standards" they are required to:

"remedy any defect in the quality of the services" (or to) "refund the consumer a reasonable portion of the price paid for the services performed and goods supplied, having regard to the extent of the failure". 

So let's do our best to educate this supplier on their obligations to you under the Consumer Protection Act and, perhaps more importantly, because of their moral obligation to offer decent customer service.

Update. Despite giving me blue ticks on WhatsApp, they have chosen not to respond to any of my messages and they're giving me the same treatment they gave you. I think we can assume they don't give a damn about their customers. Do they care about their reputation because if they're not careful they might not have one for much longer. 

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Where's my trailer?

I'm need of help. Last Year around March I bought a trailer from a company in South Africa which I paid 40k for so now the problem is due to borders been closed and we didn't manage to courier it. He kept telling me that he already made the trailer. By December we then agreed that if he doesn't courier the trailer he will send the money back. Until today he's unresponsive and no longer taking my calls. I wanted to know the steps I can take to reach him.

How many times must this be said? The last year has been very difficult for us all and many suppliers have had an extremely hard time. They've faced border restrictions, transport issues and staffing problems. Our South African cousins have faced lockdowns just as we have. It's no surprise that suppliers like this one have experienced problems satisfying their customers. We all understand that.

But that's no excuse for being useless. This company has made repeated promises that they have failed to keep and they still have a large amount of your money. It's time to start demanding that they do the decent thing. They can either deliver the trailer or they can send you back your money in full. We should both contact them and insist that they do the right thing immediately. That's if they want to continue having customers in Botswana.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Can I be cleared?

I would like to enquire if you can assist me to get ITC clearance, after settling full payment of the account.

I have fully paid a furniture store account on December 2020, which was handed to some debt collectors. Still to date I find my name listed under ITC. I trying to seek help from the debt collectors, there's no assistance. What do I do?

The most important thing you can do is to keep talking.

Credit reference bureaux like TransUnion and the others make money by holding records of customers and their debts that they can share with other potential lenders. Lenders like banks, micro-lenders and furniture stores pay these bureaux to record and then share our data so they can all lend money more carefully.

Are they allowed to do this? Yes, 100% they are. They can do this because we said they can. Hidden in our loan agreements, hire purchase contracts or credit agreements is a clause saying that if we fail to pay our instalments then they can register this with these credit reference companies. If you don't believe me then go and check your contracts right now. It's true.

The good news for the future is that the new Data Protection Act will force these companies to be much more open about this and will force them to allow us to see what the hold on us. However, despite being a very powerful piece of law, it's still not enforceable (Government, what are you doing about this?).

Another bit of good news is that credit reference bureaux do a good job for the majority of people who pay their debts carefully and without problems. They make it easier for these people to get loans because lenders can see who is most likely to be an easy, uncomplicated, profitable customer. They also allow lenders to keep interest rates a little lower by avoiding bad debtors.

In your case there seems to have been a mistake. If it's true that you have paid off your debt then the furniture store needs to update your records and call off their debt collectors. Today.

And for those of us who DO owe money to debt collectors? The lesson is simple. Talk to them. If you owe money to someone the very worst thing you can do is try to avoid it. Talk to them and you might be surprised how reasonable they might be. Most lenders would rather get something back instead of nothing. They'd rather get their money slowly rather than never at all.

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How can I spot a scam?

(Several people asked me to post this warning again.)

There aren't many pyramid and Ponzi schemes active right now but you can be sure they'll be here very soon, doing their best to recruit people by promising them vast profits. A few months ago Crowd1 was busy, despite being declared illegal in various countries around the world. You might also remember people desperately trying to recruit others into a "WhatsApp gifting" scam that promised to multiply the money people paid to join. Both were just scams that relied on gullible victims joining and then recruiting multiple levels of victims beneath them.

Here's a simple recommendation. Whenever someone invites you to join their money-making scheme, ask yourself WHY they're inviting you. If they've found a way of making money, why are they sharing it with you instead of keeping it to themselves? The answer is very simple. Anyone inviting you to join their scheme is trying to make money FROM you, not WITH you.

Another clue is products. Real businesses have products and services. Scams don't. Or if they do, or they only pretend to have them, but they don't really matter. They are primarily interested in recruiting other people and then getting them to recruit even more. You'll often hear the promoters of these schemes defend themselves by insisting their scheme isn't a pyramid scheme because there are products. Others will say it's legitimate because anyone can earn more than the people above them in the pyramid. That's all excuses. What matters most is the word "primarily". Section 9 of the Consumer Protection Act says that if "participants in the scheme receive compensation derived primarily from their respective recruitment of other persons as participants" then it's a pyramid scheme. It's not difficult.

Then there's the Bitcoin angle. As I've said before, Bitcoin is a legitimate but very high-risk cryptocurrency that is a fascinating vision of how money might work in the future. However, it must never be seen as an investment and it's surrounded by a huge number of scams, pyramid schemes and Ponzi schemes. A good example was BitClub Network, whose founders are being prosecuted in the USA for running a scam that stole $722 million from victims around the world. That actually had no connection to Bitcoin at all, it was just an enormous Ponzi scheme and there were plenty of victims in Botswana.

The simplest lesson is to be skeptical. Don't believe anyone who claims you can make large amounts of money with little effort or just by recruiting other people. Anyone who claims this is either lying, deluded, naïve or desperate. Don't believe it! 

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Where's my refund?

I need assistance as I am at my wits end. In December 2020 I applied for admission to university. I received communication that I had been accepted. On the 31st December I made a payment to the university not only for the registration fee of US$ 50 but also a semesters fee of US$ 1,079.

Consequently by the 10th of January unforeseen personal issues cropped up. I knew I wouldn't be able to study online. I immediately notified the university via WhatsApp. They acknowledged it. Subsequently I have been inundated with calls and emails to register, to join zoom classes etc.

Upon enquiry I was told that I should ignore them. I was asked to write an email informing them about my decision. Which I did. I followed every protocol the university website stated.

My battle is to get my refund. Last week Thursday I spoke with the financial department. A man there was extremely rude to me. I reported his actions in an email to the Distance Learning's Head.

I was informed that the university only ever makes payment once a week on a Thursday and that by 18th February I should received notification but I have received no proof of payment. This being 6 weeks now from start of refund process. I am at my wits end as I am being pushed from pillar to post. I am being fed platitudes upon platitudes. All I ask is for my refund. 

The good news is that this university has a policy on refunds. They also have a web site that describes the process and you've followed those instructions properly. That's all the good news.

The bad news is that they're useless. And at least one of their staff is rude. And escalating the issue to a senior manager seems to have no effect. That's not the level of professionalism that you have a right to expect from a company that took a large amount of your money.

Back to the good news. I'll contact the head people at the university and make it clear that they should show that they can adhere to their own procedures and treat their customer with the respect they deserve. As a high-level institute of education they should be able to learn a lesson, don't you think?

How much is my refund?

I am in need of your assistance. I bought a service from a company for installation of a solar system for an amount of P27,500. This was on December 15. The system has never worked not even once since installation. These guys have been trying to get it running up to today they are failing dismally. So today I asked for my money back since the system is not working. They guy is saying he can only refund P26,000 instead of P27,500. He says he is covering his costs of going to the site many times. But who's fault is it? It's supposed to be his because he offered me a service that never worked so I want my money back.

Kindly advice on what to do to get my full refund back.

I think you should tell him exactly what you've told me. You paid for a working solar system and that is exactly what you're entitled to get. Or, if there's a problem, you're entitled to a refund. An entire refund. Not a partial refund. I don't care if he had to travel to the site many times". That really is his problem, not yours.

Section 7 (6) and (7) of the Consumer Protection Act says that when "goods or services are not availed as advertised, the consumer shall have the right to cancel the contract (and) the supplier shall refund the consumer the amount paid". I suspect that this guy sold you a solar power system that he suggested would work properly? He failed.

Maybe you should also tell him that Section 15 (1) of the Act says that a consumer "has the right to receive goods which are of good quality, in good working order and free of defects".

This guy owes you P27,500. And an apology for saying silly things.