CONSUMER DENIED HIS RIGHT
Dealership refuses to refund deposit
IT’S six years since the Consumer Protection Act was introduced but instead of recognising it, some companies still deny consumers their basic rights.
Some service providers do not recognise that a consumer has a right to cancel a contract within the cooling off period and be refunded any deposit paid from goods on sale.
Although the CPA outlawed forfeiture clauses, Peugeot in Northcliff has apparently found a way to circumvent this when consumers try to cancel deals.
This can be demonstrated in the case of Phumlani Sibisi, of Dlamini in Soweto. The 52year-old Sibisi wanted to buy a second-hand Peugeot in September last year.
To ensure he got the best service, Sibisi called their head office to enquire about a 2008 Peugeot he wanted to buy and was advised to instead go to any of their dealerships.
He opted to visit a Peugeot dealership in Northcliff, Johannesburg. Sibisi now says he regrets ever approaching them.
The salesperson who helped him, only known as Aubrey, told him they were expecting a demo of the model he was interested in from their head office and advised him to return in 20 days to view and test drive it, said Sibisi.
But on September 29, Aubrey was not there to help him. Another salesperson, a Mr Peer, later persuaded him to pay a refundable R10 000 holding deposit which he allegedly said would help to secure the deal.
When Sibisi said he could only afford to pay R5 000, Peer assured him that his money would be refunded once a financier had approved his finance application.
“No receipt was issued to confirm payment except the Electronic Fund Transfer slip I got after swiping my credit card,” he said.
Sibisi said he indicated to Peer the possibility that he might not get a loan from financial institutions who have implemented strict affordability tests to minimise over-indebting consumers.
In the meantime Sibisi, on his next visit to the dealership, gave his pay slip and proof of address to Peer as required in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
Three days later, after scrutinising his financial position, Sibisi realised that he would not be able to afford a further R250 000 debt on his desired car without falling into arrears. He subsequently called the dealership to withdraw his “offer ” to purchase. He was told that he would forfeit his holding deposit.
This was within the five days cooling off period and at no stage when trying to secure the deal was he told he would forfeit his money should he withdraw from the sale, Sibisi said.
Section 16 of the CPA says a consumer may cancel a transaction without reason or penalty by notice to the supplier in writing or in another recorded manner or form within five business days after signing a contract.
Sibisi did not sign any contract but completed a loan application form and was still within the cooling off period. He was told the reason why he would not receive his deposit was that the car was specifically bought for him.