Consumer Watchdog

Rewards and punishments

2012-01-27T07:37:00.000+02:00

Last week I gave our dear friends at Botswana Power Corporation an idea that I thought might help them to confront some of the problems they face. No, I’m not talking about dealing with the perception amongst the public that they are a disaster as a provider of power. No, I’m not talking about improving the experience I’m sure most of us have had of calling their so-called “Faults” number only to hear it ring until you lose the will to live. No, I’m not talking about confronting the feeling most of us have that they should get off their parastatal backsides and DO something about our power crisis.

On the contrary, I’m talking about the future, about preventing this sort of problem from happening again. Regardless of the construction of new power stations, making new and better deals with neighboring countries and buying power production from the private sector I suspect we are always going to have power problems in Botswana. That’s because we’re wasteful. Given the opportunity to have all our lights on 24/7, to run our pool pump when it’s already crystal clear and to have every air-con in the building running all the time, that’s what we do. We are just a wasteful nation.

Knowing I run the risk of causing offence by saying this, it’s not our only failing. We can’t take our drink and we can’t drive properly either. Much as I find the alcohol levy irritating it does seem from the evidence elsewhere that pricing is the only effective way to curb drinking. I suspect the same goes for driving as well. If we want to improve the quality of driving and to reduce the level of death and destruction on our roads we need to make bad driving an expensive business. Some months ago an acquaintance of mine complained that he had been stopped by the police for driving while speaking on his cellphone. He was appalled at the fine he was made to pay. Another complained about being fined P1,000 for driving through a red robot. I don’t think either was impressed by my lack of sympathy. Forgive me for misquoting the old saying: If you can’t pay the fine, then don’t do the crime. The best way to avoid traffic fines is not to speed, not to run red lights and not to drive like a moron. Yes, I DO mean combi and taxi drivers, I also mean you. And me.

The sooner we’re genuinely afraid of breaking the rules the better. The sooner we’re afraid, the sooner we might actually obey the rules and save some lives.

I think the same goes for power consumption. The sooner it hurts us if we waste electricity the sooner we might actually stop and think about how much we’re using. The sooner they reward us for reducing our power consumption, the sooner we might actually do that.

The irony is that unlike recycling your refuse, cutting back on your alcohol abuse or controlling the speed at which you drive, saving power has no downside. Nobody is telling you not to watch TV, have a swim or cook dinner, they’re just suggesting that you’re a little bit more sensible about switching devices off.

My idea last week was for BPC to be able to punish and reward us depending on whether we use less or more power. I don’t just mean that our bills should go up and down in proportion to our consumption, I mean something extra. If your consumption goes down by 10% compared to the same period last year then obviously your bill goes down in proportion but I suggest they cut another 10% off as well as a reward. If your consumption goes up the same thing happens but in reverse. Your bill would go up in proportion to your increased use but they would then add a punishment factor on top.

It sounds cruel to the bigger and more profligate users but do we really care? They should have been more prudent. They should have thought about this before they plugged in all that equipment. They should have tried harder to save money.

But think also of the possible benefits. Just imagine what would happen if you halved your electricity consumption. Your bill would be zero. The 50% you actually used would be entirely free.

OK, perhaps you think this is all too radical? Giving consumers a financial incentive to reduce their costs would never work. Well, consider this. It’s working right now in the insurance industry. Many insurance companies offer a “no claims discount” to their customers. They offer their prudent customers a discount if they make no claims. The less often you make claims the less you pay. Those that have accidents and make claims aren’t given the discount.

So why can’t the rest of the business world work the same way? Why can’t banks offer you loans at cheaper rates if you paid off the last loan without a single problem? I don’t have any problem with making the bad payers, the wasteful and the reckless pay more than those who do their best to be good customers and neighbors.

If the business world can even consider these things why can’t the parastatals like BPC? Or is it that they still see themselves as somehow different from real businesses? Is it that they don’t think they should play by the same rules as the rest of us. Is it that they really don’t give a damn about their customers? Why don’t they prove me wrong?

This week’s stars

Kwape from South African Express Airways for being so helpful, friendly and giving good advice!

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

2012-01-26T19:56:00.001+02:00

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I opened a store account in 2005. I was retrenched in April 2010 and went into arrears. I tried to pay but a month later a friend told me that you I should have registered for their account protection plan. I checked my statements and realized that all these years I had been paying for this protection which covered me for death, disability and retrenchment.

I spoke to someone at their call center who acknowledged I was covered and asked me to send the details of my retrenchment. I did and they acknowledged that they got the information and they will get back to me once everything has been processed. I waited and months later was told there was no information about my retrenchment and they later took me to debt collector. I gave the debt collectors all the documents I had when I was communicating with the store. They even advised that they were experiencing the same problem with other customers and they didn’t contact me again.

Now the store say I filed the application too late. I tried to explain that I did this all long back and nobody helped. I even got a letter from a manager acknowledging that I am entitled to benefits. I’ve spoken to many people here and in SA but nobody can help me.

Now I don’t know where to start. They’ve told me that the plan only works if I request it within 3 months. I tried to explain that I faxed them two months after my retrenchment and even have proof that it went through but they refused. What can I do?

This is beyond a joke. You paid the Account Protection Plan for 5 years and you are entitled to make a claim and get paid. I checked and actually you had 120 days to submit a claim.

Send them a letter with copies of the documents about your retrenchment, the previous correspondence you received from them and demand that they sort out this mess. Send a copy to the branch where you originally opened the account and their South African Head Office. Make sure you tell them you’ve told us about it as well. We’ll also get in touch with them and politely encourage them to get a move on.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I need your help in checking a school in South Africa. My friend is interested in attending it but I’ve been skeptical about it. For instance the longest course they offer runs for 20 days, while most are for just 10-15 days. They offer technical courses like rigging and welding at fees of up to R9,000 all of which must be paid up front and is non-refundable. Also they claim that no one can fail because they offer practical courses which doesn’t sound right because practical courses can be failed even if it were 100% practical and no theory.

You’re right to be suspicious. I’ve emailed them asking them about the courses you can’t fail and the fees up front. I also asked them about the claim on their web site that they’ve been operating since 1999 when they only registered as a company in 2009 but I haven’t heard from them yet. It’s all too suspicious.

World Business Guide – a warning

We’ve heard from several people in Botswana and elsewhere in the region who asked for advice about the World Business Guide. It’s simple. This online directory is a scam.

They invite you, usually by fax to your office, to enter your details into their directory, assuring you that “Updating is free of charge”. They rely on someone in your office filling in the details and returning the completed form without reading the small print. That’s where it says, in letters so small that often they can’t be read, that entering your details actually costs €995, over P5,000 per year. They’ll then send you an invoice and refuse to accept your explanation that it was all a mistake. They’ll threaten you with legal action until they get their money.

So should you pay up? Certainly not. This is no more than a scam. What’s more they have never actually taken legal action against anyone, simply because they know any magistrate or judge would just laugh at their claims. If you hear from them please just ignore them. Either that or sent them an extremely rude email. Remember that it’s perfectly acceptable to be rude to scammers!

Another free idea (this time for BPC)

2012-01-20T08:20:00.000+02:00

Last week I gave away two free ideas to our friends, the decision-makers in Government. You can see them in full in last week’s Mmegi or on our blog site. The first was to abolish the Consumer Protection Unit, to devolve it’s powers to local authorities and councils and to make a formal link between consumer rights and trade licensing. Local authorities would have the right, perhaps even the obligation, to consider the level of complaints that had been made about a store, and how well they had been resolved, before renewing a store’s licence. They can already deny a store a licence on safety and hygiene grounds, why not also on how they treat their customers?

The second idea was to allow you and I to enforce our own rights. At the moment we have to rely on the Consumer Protection Unit to enforce their Regulations on our behalf. I want that to change. I want you and I to be able to drag a badly behaving store or supplier to Court ourselves and demand problems are fixed. I want us to go the rather wonderful Small Claims Court and ask them to order a store to remedy a breach of the Regulations. I don’t think this is too much to ask, do you? We’re grown ups, we are perfectly capable of reading the excellently written Regulations and understanding when our rights have been abused. We should be allowed by government to do some of these things ourselves.

So what about another free idea? Not for Government this time but for our most respected purveyor of electricity, the esteemed Botswana Power Corporation.

Before you continue, let me stress that this is NOT going to be a rant against BPC. Others have done that, there’s no point in me adding my complaints to the list. Instead I want to be positive, I want to be constructive and helpful.

At least part of the problem we’re facing with power is that we use too much of it. Yes, I DO mean you and me but I also mean stores, showrooms and factories. I mean company offices, government buildings and shopping centers. If we used less electricity the need for load-shedding would surely decrease. And here’s a novel idea: we’d save money.

But we all know this, don’t we? I’m not claiming the moral high ground, I know I’m just as wasteful as you are. But neither of us is as wasteful as the car showrooms that keep their lights on all night or the shopping centers who keep their advertising switched on all night.

So here’s the idea. Structured bill adjustments.

I think our electricity bills, and those of stores and companies, should have structured discounts and premiums applied to them depending on how our consumption has changed. I don’t just mean that lower consumption would mean lower bills, I mean more than that. I think BPC should apply additional discounts, or premiums, on top of the bill.

For instance, I’d like to see my January electricity bill have a statement at the bottom saying:

“Your consumption for January 2012 is 10% lower than in January 2011. We have therefore deducted an additional 10% from your bill.”

So I not only get a lower bill because I used less power but they reward me even further.

But, most importantly, it would work the other way as well. If you use 10% more power than last year then you pay an additional 10% as a punishment. So your bill goes up? I don’t care, you’ve used more power. You’ve either built another wing to your mansion, bought too many Play Stations or you’ve been careless, I really don’t give a damn, you deserve to subsidize those customers who have reduced their consumption. If you don’t want your bills to go up then cut your electricity usage as you construct your new luxury swimming pool.

Fancy an example? Let’s say your power bill last January was P500 and this month, because you’ve been power conscious, switched off your geyser and pool pump during the day and switched to lower power light bulbs, this January you use 10% less power. So already your bill would have dropped to P450, assuming energy prices are the same. But then BPC would knock another 10% off the P450 as a reward. Your final bill is now down to P405.

And if your consumption went UP by 10%? Then your new bill, including the power-hog penalty, would be a significantly higher at P605.

The advantage is that this genuinely rewards those of us who cut our consumption and help avoid load-shedding. It also puts the extra burden on those who deserve it, the ones who don’t even try.

Here’s a challenging thought for those of us, like me, who like a drink. The evidence, if you really want to face it, is that the only effective way to reduce alcohol consumption is to increase the price. Adding a duty onto the cost of booze is the only known, effective way, to make people cut down. So why is power any different? If we can do it for alcohol we can do it for electricity, but at least this way we can also reward those who do the right thing.

I’ve only one last suggestion. I don’t think this goes far enough. I think the discount or premium we get should be DOUBLE our change in consumption. Reduce your consumption by 10% and you get a 20% discount taking your P500 bill last year to a mere P360. Increase your usage by 10% and your bill will leap from P500 to P660.

Of course this will make some people unhappy but it will delight others. Which do you want to be? And what do BPC want to be? An organization we all despise or one that comes up with innovative and rewarding solutions for it’s customers?

This week’s stars

Brian from Ellies for attentive service and good follow up.

The romantic scams continue...

2012-01-19T22:15:00.000+02:00

We received an email from a woman who had posted her profile on a dating site and had 4 responses from what seemed like eligible men. All four of them turned out to be "romantic scammers". It's the usual story, they seduce the woman electronically with kind words, attention and pictures of hunky guys. Sooner or later they ask for money.

One has a Facebook profile which Facebook users can see here. He calls himself "Raymond Zachary" and shows pictures of himself in uniform and receiving a medal. In fact the medal picture is interesting. Here's the selection of pictures he proudly posts:

What a strange coincidence. Here's a picture from a story about a genuine US soldier, Staff Sgt. Zachary Rhyner, receiving an award. This is after he received "the Air Force Cross, the service’s highest distinction for valor except for the Medal of Honor. He becomes just the third airmen — the other two died in battle — to receive the honor since 2001 and only the 25th enlisted airman since enlisted airmen became eligible in 1960".

Forget the geopolitical situation right now, forget the reasons behind invasions, forget everything except that this is a very brave young man doing what he thought was good and remember that some horrible scammer has stolen his image to exploit women and steal their money.

In case you have a quiet moment with nothing better to do, you can email the scammer by clicking here. Make sure you say something VERY rude.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

2012-01-19T07:40:00.000+02:00

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I have a problem with a duvet cover I bought from a store at Riverwalk. Within 5 days of purchase and use it was torn at the bottom. I called the store to complain about the issue and ask either for an exchange or a refund. The lady at the store told me that they do not change or refund used items as stated on their receipt and they will not account for my carelessness as I did not take proper care of the cover.

This is unfair. I received the duvet cover as a Christmas gift from my colleague and he did not keep the receipt as he did not predict what could go wrong with the item. I have a price tag that bears the bar code, the price and the shop name.

I believe that I have the right as a consumer to return any item that is not in a satisfactory state to the supplier as soon as I found it faulty and I am entitled for an exchange or refund.

On the outer cover there is the following information: “If you are not entirely happy with this product please contact [store name]. If you wish to return this item please return original packaging and till slip and return within 60 days.

I don’t think this is good enough. A duvet cover is meant to last a lot longer than a few days, so long as you haven’t been doing anything too violent to it.

This situation is slightly different because I don’t think you’re entitled to a refund. That’s because you didn’t pay for it. However I DO think you’re entitled to a duvet cover that isn’t torn. You still have the packaging which clearly states the return policy, confirms which store sold it and I think it’s reasonable to explain that it was a gift and you don’t therefore have the original till receipt.

I suggest you go back to the store and explain that they have breached Section 13 (1) (a) of the Consumer Protection Regulations which say that a store has failed “to meet minimum standards and specifications” if they sell something that is not “of merchantable quality”. A duvet cover that tears within a couple of days clearly isn’t “fit for the purposes for which commodities of that kind are usually purchased”.

If they don’t do the right thing let us know.

Update: We've heard from the store and a replacement has been offered.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I received a text message from a debt collector after I missed their calls. I returned their call this morning to find out what it was about. They informed me that they were instructed by my bank to collect outstanding credit card payments.

I was surprised because previously I was handed to another debt collector. I paid the full amount of over P8,000 which was demanded from me and the first debt collectors gave me a letter showing that indeed I have cleared my debt. Now I just learned this morning that I have been handed to the second company
and according to them I still have an outstanding amount of nearly P5,000.

What I want to know is shouldn't the bank have written me a letter to inform me of this balance?

This sounds like a mistake to me. It sounds like the first debt collection company has miscommunicated with your bank about the amount they collected from you. We’ll get in touch with the bank in question and see if they can investigate and resolve this matter for you.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #3

My sister went shopping at the recently opened Rail Park Mall and was injured in the shop by a step-ladder while shopping. She had a cut which was bleeding. She tells me she was given painkillers, some "first aid procedures" and P30 to get a cab home.

Is this all a reputable store can do? I’m limited in that area but think they should have done more than that.

I’m not a doctor but I suspect that a bit more than this is called for. I suspect that if she was cut by a metal object she might need a tetanus jab? She might also need an apology from the store for her injury and the rest of us need assurance that they’re not going to injure us as well. I think she should visit her doctor for advice and keep a receipt for anything he charges her. The store will need to pay for that.

Free ideas

2012-01-13T18:30:00.000+02:00

It’s time for another Consumer Watchdog giveaway. This time it’s two free ideas for Government to consider. They’re not just random ideas, these are two suggestions based on many years of experience of consumer rights enforcement in Botswana (or the lack of it). I firmly believe that these ideas stand a chance of improving the welfare of consumers and might actually empower them. See what you think.

Idea Number 1. Abolish the Consumer Protection Unit and decentralize consumer rights enforcement.

This isn’t a dig at the Consumer Protection Unit although I do think they aren’t using their powers even nearly enough. I’m suggesting this because I genuinely believe this is a way for individual consumers to have better enforcement of their rights and is a better way of spending our money.

I think the Consumer Protection Unit within the Ministry of Trade and Industry should be shut down. In it’s place a new but much, much smaller Consumer Rights Research and Policy Unit should be established. Their job would be much simpler, their list of tasks much smaller. It would be to research consumer rights, to critically examine what other countries are doing, to see what works and what doesn’t and to draft ideas for Parliament to consider as new Laws and Regulations. They would set the rules and policies that others would follow. It would also be their job to supply educational materials to the Ministry of Education who would incorporate it into the school curriculum. They could do all that hard work attending major conferences, benchmarking and engaging with international stakeholders. We would only need a handful of people to do this.

So who would actually enforce consumer rights if the Consumer Protection Unit was abolished? That’s the adventurous bit. I think Local Authorities and Councils could enforce these rights much more effectively. They already inspect and licence businesses, they already say whether a store can trade or not, they already check to see if they have the right number of toilets and fire escapes. They are the ones who actually visit the stores and meet the managers. They are the ones who are best placed to say, based on the complaints they’ve received, whether a store respects consumer’s rights or not. They’re certainly in a better position to determine these things than a distant government office. They could only be more effective.

I think we should create new positions in Local Authorities and Councils. Call them Consumer Rights Officers. It would be their job to receive complaints and to investigate them, suggest resolutions and, critically, to make sure everything they do regarding a store is filed away for review next time the store’s licence is due for renewal. When the review occurs each year the Consumer Rights Officer would be required to report the number and nature of the complaints received and to comment on how well they had been resolved. If too many complaints have come in, or the store has failed to resolve enough of them, the Consumer Rights Officer’s job would be to veto the licence renewal.

Can you imagine how well customers would be treated if a store owner knew that their licence to trade wasn’t going to be renewed if they'd mistreated too many customers in the last few months?

I haven’t done the maths but I can’t imagine this would cost any more than the existing arrangements. Simply transfer the existing Consumer Protection staff to the councils. You could also drastically reduce the need to even threaten misbehaving stores with prosecution. The potential removal of their trade licence would be more than enough to make them behave themselves.

I like this idea because it makes consumer right enforcement a local issue. It even makes it a political issue. Imagine how exciting a local council election would be if consumer rights became a local issue.

Idea Number 2. Make the Consumer Protection Regulations personally enforceable.

Currently the only organization in Botswana that actually has the power to enforce the Consumer Protection Regulations is the Consumer Protection Unit. You and I can’t enforce them. This must change.

I want us all to have the right to take an organization to court for breaching the Regulations, without having to rely on any part of the Public Service to do it for us. I want you and I to be able to go to the Small Claims Court and explain that a store has breached a Section of the Regulations and to have them grant us an order to get the matter resolved. I don’t want to queue up and wait for anyone else to do it on my behalf. Like you, I’m a grown up who can look after myself if I’m given the opportunity to do so.

I think that the time has come for the people to be trusted by their Government. It’s time to treat us as mature, confident and educated grown-ups who want to look after themselves. As a parent I know it’s difficult to let your kids take more and more responsibility for their lives but you have to do it. The same goes for a democratic Government and it’s people. It’s about time we were trusted with our own welfare. Give us the weapons, like the excellent Small Claims Court, but let us use them ourselves, not via anonymous and bureaucratic organs of the Public Service.

I think that localizing the enforcement of consumer rights and giving the people the power to do a lot of this themselves might dramatically improve our lives. It might also make us feel a bit more grown up.

So what do you think? Honestly, what do you think? I want feedback. If I get enough constructive feedback I’ll send a copy of this article to the people with the power to actually make this all happen. Then we can see if they agree too that we’re grown-ups!

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

2012-01-13T18:00:00.000+02:00

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I would really like your advice on the following matter. Two weeks ago I lay-byed a bag in a shop in Game City for P200. The following day my husband bought me the same bag from the same shop. I went back to the store and told them my story and asked if there was a way they could help me. The owner told me to look for another bag worth P200 but I couldn’t find one. She suggested that maybe I should look at the other items in the shop worth P200. She told me its not possible to give me a refund. I tried to plead with the woman who in turn just walked away and I was left with the shop attendants so I gave up.

I will really appreciate if you could advise me on this issue.

I’m sorry you’ve had this bad experience, particularly after your husband was so generous!

Technically of course the store hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s not their fault that this mistake happened. However they ARE being a bit mean in my view. My understanding is that you haven’t yet picked up the bag you lay-byed? If this is true it surely would cost them nothing at all to refund you the money you’ve paid so far. It would be really very inconsiderate and unfriendly of them not to give you your money back.

However if you have already picked up the lay-byed bag as well as the one your lovely husband got you the situation is different. Your bag is now second-hand and the store will suffer a loss if you return it because they can’t sell it as new any longer.

Let me know whether you have the lay-byed bag and we’ll see what we can do to assist.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

Hi I would like to know if Paynize is legitimate, I believe its a scam and please notify people about it.

Paynize.com is yet another web based “opportunity” to make money by visiting web sites. Before any techies complain that some web sites can make money by having lots of visitors, people should know that the amounts are incredibly small and there’s no way that people like you and me can make any money from the process. The arithmetic simply doesn’t work out. Just ask yourself why the owner of a web site would pay a total stranger to visit it? It doesn’t make sense.

In fact Paynize is one stage more irritating than that. Paynize require you to refer other people to the web sites they suggest. That’s how they claim you’ll make money (although you won’t). Their web site is clear when it says: “Registration is Free, you have to refer your friends and users via your referral link and complete tasks to earn.” How do you think your friends will react if you start bombarding them with pointless links?

As with any other get-rick-quick scheme I suggest you give it a miss and focus on real work instead.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #3

I received an email from DHL saying I had a delivery notification. The email had an attachment. I read your warnings about these things before, should I open it?

No, you certainly should NOT open any email attachment from people you don’t know. The attachment in the email you sent me contained a Trojan, a type of virus that remain on your computer perhaps allowing someone else to gain control of your computer and then getting up to all sorts of mischief.

The lesson is simple. Don’t trust emails form people you don’t know. Don’t trust emails from people you DO know if they contain unexpected attachments. Also, if you don’t have an up-to-date antivirus package on your computer then you are asking for trouble. Despite what some companies and PC manufacturers will tell you antivirus protection does not need to cost money.

Headway University - feedback

2012-01-07T08:40:00.001+02:00

A reader's comment:

"I was approached by Headway after a failed attempt from another scam Uni--Corllins ,, maybe they just changed their name , I have had multiple emails and phone calls from just a 6 digit number , I live and work in China so after some discussion I said that I could send the special price of $499 via western union --OH NO you cant do that we don`t accept WU payments from China we only accept WU from the middle east , and you have to send the money there , I asked where and Ethan just stopped chatting, I also asked many times for their actual physical address --again no answer ,,thanks for the blog"

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

2012-01-06T09:12:00.001+02:00

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I have a problem with a duvet cover I bought from a store at Riverwalk. Within 5 days of purchase and use it was torn at the bottom. I called the store to complain about the issue and ask either for an exchange or a refund. The lady at the store told me that they do not change or refund used items as stated on their receipt and they will not account for my carelessness as I did not take proper care of the cover.

This is unfair. I received the duvet cover as a Christmas gift from my colleague and he did not keep the receipt as he did not predict what could go wrong with the item. I have a price tag that bears the bar code, the price and the shop name.

I believe that I have the right as a consumer to return any item that is not in a satisfactory state to the supplier as soon as I found it faulty and I am entitled for an exchange or refund.

On the outer cover there is the following information: “If you are not entirely happy with this product please contact [store name]. If you wish to return this item please return original packaging and till slip and return within 60 days.

I don’t think this is good enough. A duvet cover is meant to last a lot longer than a few days, so long as you haven’t been doing anything too violent to it.

This situation is slightly different because I don’t think you’re entitled to a refund. That’s because you didn’t pay for it. However I DO think you’re entitled to a duvet cover that isn’t torn. You still have the packaging which clearly states the return policy, confirms which store sold it and I think it’s reasonable to explain that it was a gift and you don’t therefore have the original till receipt.

I suggest you go back to the store and explain that they have breached Section 13 (1) (a) of the Consumer Protection Regulations which say that a store has failed “to meet minimum standards and specifications” if they sell something that is not “of merchantable quality”. A duvet cover that tears within a couple of days clearly isn’t “fit for the purposes for which commodities of that kind are usually purchased”.

If they don’t do the right thing let us know.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I received a text message from a debt collector after I missed their calls. I returned their call this morning to find out what it was about. They informed me that they were instructed by my bank to collect outstanding credit card payments.

I was surprised because previously I was handed to another debt collector. I paid the full amount of over P8,000 which was demanded from me and the first debt collectors gave me a letter showing that indeed I have cleared my debt. Now I just learned this morning that I have been handed to the second company
and according to them I still have an outstanding amount of nearly P5,000.

What I want to know is shouldn't the bank have written me a letter to inform me of this balance?

This sounds like a mistake to me. It sounds like the first debt collection company has miscommunicated with your bank about the amount they collected from you. We’ll get in touch with the bank in question and see if they can investigate and resolve this matter for you.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #3

My sister went shopping at the recently opened Rail Park Mall and was injured in the shop by a step-ladder while shopping. She had a cut which was bleeding. She tells me she was given painkillers, some "first aid procedures" and P30 to get a cab home.

Is this all a reputable store can do? I’m limited in that area but think they should have done more than that.

I’m not a doctor but I suspect that a bit more than this is called for. I suspect that if she was cut by a metal object she might need a tetanus jab? She might also need an apology from the store for her injury and the rest of us need assurance that they’re not going to injure us as well. I think she should visit her doctor for advice and keep a receipt for anything he charges her. The store will need to pay for that.

More fake degree offers from Northern Port "University"

2011-12-30T17:33:00.001+02:00

In comes an email entitled "New Year Greetings and Savings from Northern Port University".

"Dear Richard,

Holiday Greetings!

We, at See If You Qualify for a Degree, appreciates your zest for higher education and acknowledge the constraints that pull you back from realizing your dream of earning an advanced degree. Also, we understand that it will become increasingly difficult for you to pursue higher education in the face of 10% increase in educational cost worldwide in 2012.

To help you overcome the hurdles and pursue your ambition, See If You Qualify for a Degree offers an ideal solution in association with Northern Port University.

With NorthernPort University, you can earn a degree of your choice on the basis of your work/life experience. We will evaluate your outside classroom learning, translate them into academic credits, and award you a globally accredited degree in 2 weeks! What's more, signing up now will get you $200 discount on your preferred degree program. Yes, this is true and is valid till Dec 31st 2011.

Blah, blah, blah."

Is that the quality of English you want from a fake university?

Northern Port "University" - another fake

2011-12-27T18:54:00.001+02:00

Yet another fake university to add to the list of those who offer degrees for money and no actual work. The same offers of degrees within days, no actual study needed and based purely on prior life experience.

They claim accreditation by the "Universal Accreditation Council" but this too, isn't real.

Interestingly, they give a "case study" of someone they claim is called "Jackie Dason". Jackie says:

"Getting my higher education degree from Northern Port was one of the best decisions of
my life. Northern Port not only helped me hone my skills, but also guided me through ways
to change my career without any hassles. Studying at Northern Port was an amazing experience, and now I believe quality education can be attained at a low cost."

Curiously, this is what "Jackie" also says about "Panworld University":

"Getting my higher education degree from Panworld was one of the best decisions of my life. Panworld not only helped me hone my skills, but also guided me through ways to change my career without any hassles. Studying at Panworld was an amazing experience, and now I believe quality education can be attained at a low cost."

What a bizarre coincidence! Actually their web sites are exact replicas of each other. You don't think this is because they're both fakes and scams, do you?

So a welcome to Northern Port "University" the newest member of the fake university club, along with your clones like Belford, Headway, Corllins, Woodfield, Mcford.

Noni juice - background material

2011-12-24T12:44:00.000+02:00

For a complete list of US Food and Drug Administration letters to and from Noni juice distributors see here.

For the official report from the European Commission Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General, which concluded that there is "no evidence for special health benefits of Tahitian Noni juice which go beyond those of other fruit juices" see here (pdf download).

The Mayo Clinic state here that:

"Noni juice has gained popularity as a tonic for everything from arthritis and depression to heart disease and cancer. But there's no evidence that noni juice is effective in treating any of these conditions."

A study was undertaken at the University of Hawaii and sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine into the effects of Noni juice in cancer patients that ended in 2006 but no results were ever published. I wonder why?

Finally, there's a good summary of the facts here.

Consumer Alert: Divinenoni

2011-12-24T10:40:00.002+02:00

There's a sponsored link on Facebook for a product called "Divinenoni".

I have no problem with fruit juices, they're good for you. However I DO have a problem when they make absurd, reckless and criminal claims.

If you click on the link you go to the Divinenoni Facebook group the claims become a little bit more extraordinary. Rather than just a fruit juice it becomes a product that "improves the efficacy of the Medicine":

As you can see there's a link to the cancertutor.com web site which makes this extraordinary claim:

On that very same web page the authors make the most dangerous medical claim I've read in a very long time.

Let me be perfectly clear. The Divinenoni Facebook page links directly to this claim. There is no evidence whatsoever that noni juice has any effect on cancer in humans. This is dangerous, criminally irresponsible nonsense. It is illegal to make such claims in Botswana and the rest of the world. Encouraging people to stop their medical treatment and to drink magical fruit juice instead is a criminal offense committed by criminals.

P.S. I've posted a question on the Facebook group so see if they stand by their claim.

For some facts on noni juice see the Wikipedia page which links to a various warnings that have been sent to marketers of this nonsense.

A right to reply

2011-12-23T10:54:00.000+02:00

I’ve been known to be critical of certain people and organisations but I also believe in fair play and offering people a second chance. At Consumer Watchdog we’ve always guaranteed the people and companies we criticise a guaranteed right of reply. So long as they’re polite then they can respond. They can even criticise us if they want, even when they’re not entirely rational.

I thought that as a demonstration of this and as a special gesture of Christmas generosity I’d publish an email we received a few days ago. This was from the so-called “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)”. Despite it’s name this place has nothing to do with Northern Ireland and isn’t British. They have no permanent presence anywhere in the UK and they’re not a registered company there. What’s more none of their "academic staff" can be traced and they claim accreditation from a non-recognised accreditation body. You should also ask yourself why they have a web site that ends in "org.uk", suggesting that they're in the UK, when in fact their web site was registered as a "Non-UK Corporation" in February 2008 to an address in Malaysia. [Correction, this has now been changed, I believe on 22nd December to "Other UK Entity".]

Their email is an extreme example of the sort of thing we sometimes have to deal with. You can see the long running saga on the Consumer Watchdog blog but I thought I’d let you decide whether they’re being reasonable. I haven’t edited it other than to remove some boring details like addresses and some strange spacing. The spelling is exactly as I received it. See what you think.

"To Richard Harriman, Consumer Watchdog, the Mmegi

On l8/7/2011 you arrogantly posted three links in your blog in the internet and many links in Wikepedia and nastily asked us to Google search for the articles which defaming the Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) as fake, as Malaysia institute, not a registered company, fake accreditation, scam, Richard Lim as none existing and fake, etc.

You even sarcastically asked “How’s business? This is clearly shown that you possessed an ill intention to tarnish the reputation of the institute and intentionally to destroy the business of its agent Victoria Business Centre.

Tell us honestly how you how much you have been paid for the blogger job?

On 20/11/2011, you wrote again and agitated us to follow through legal action against you. You remarked that taking legal action against you was a silly threat.

You even dare to challenge us to lodge Internpol/FBI police report on you. Then you remark “So you were joking then?” Do you think that the Interpol and the FBI are simply set up for joking only? Come on; do not show under estimate and disrespects the ability of the Interpol and the FBI. Show your respect on them, ok!

We have been very patient with you when you began to slandering and defaming NIIBT and its agent Victoria Business Centre in the internet since 2009. Your slanderous, defamation and unlawful interfere of the internal affairs of both establishments have affected our educational service greatly.

On behalf of Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent, Richard Lim force to lodge an Interpol police report against you of your wrong doing. You are strongly urged to remove all the slanderous and defamation articles on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and NIIBT both from your blogs as found in the internet, Wikipedia, facebook, twitter and others immediately to avoid being sued.

A copy of genuine Interpol police report against you by Richard Lim, Senior Manager of International Affairs and Communication is attached for your prompt retract all the articles as posted in your blogs in the internet, wikipedia and others.

Should you fail to do so, you and your papers are really going to face the Interpol/the FBI plus suing you for tarnishing the reputation of the institute and its agent.

Can you provide us your physical address?

Our claim for damage on slandering and defaming on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent is going to be USD6 millions. You are urged to treat this matter as serious and removing all slanderous and defamation articles on NIIBT, unlawfully using the NIIBT logo, unlawfully interference of the internal affairs of NIIBT and its agent in your blogs, etc from the internet and wikipedia instantly."

Is that entirely rational? Forgive me for thinking that either the author is very excitable or he hadn’t taken his medication that morning.

Here’s a few facts.

Interpol. TEXTInterpol is not a police force. It is TEXTdescribed as "an organization facilitating international police cooperation". You cannot complain or lay a charge with Interpol. Their job is simply to enable different national police forces to cooperate with each other.

The FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is a US Federal law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction is limited to issues affecting the USA. It has no jurisdiction or interest in fake non-accredited educational establishments based in Malaysia who claim to be based in the UK when they are, in fact, not.

Defamation. Section 195 of the Penal Code of Botswana say that comment cannot be considered defamation if "the matter is true and it was for the public benefit that it should be published". The laws of Malaysia protect "justification" and "fair comment" in their Defamation Act of 1957. Nothing I've said has been untrue or an unfair comment. OK, perhaps the time I called them lunatics was going a bit far but they did say some bizarre things such as "Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law" which I think meant me.

So, Merry Christmas to all the smart and attractive Mmegi readers and “Keep taking the pills” to my Malaysian friends!

Am I too skeptical?

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000+02:00

I sometimes think skepticism is a bit of a curse. The default position is NOT to trust a new idea until there is evidence. But then, without fail, I get a grip and remind myself that skepticism is the only safe route though life.

I saw a sponsored link on Facebook for Knowledge Edge Education that intrigued me. It claimed to "assist African students realise their dreams of of quality education", blah, blah, blah.

Their web site is very glossy but doesn't have quite the depth of authenticity I would have expected. The images are all clip art, mainly from gettyimages.com. Of course there's nothing wrong with using such images, we all use them, but when you couple this with some other facts it undermines your confidence a bit.

Their News Update page shows details of 4 scholarships, all of which expired many months ago.
Their Contact Us page gives phone numbers in both Nigeria and the UK. None of the Nigerian numbers appear to work.
Their address in the UK is an accommodation address, a"virtual office". This was set up, I suspect, using a company called Westbury who specialise in setting up these addresses and companies. The address they use (145-157 St John Street, London, United Kingdom EC1V 4PW) is actually above a betting shop in London (that's it, on the right).
They also give two addresses in Nigeria, but neither of them seem credible.
Their web site is an almost perfect replica of the Scholars Trust site which even calls itself "Knowledge Edge" when you visit it. The Scholars Trust site was registered on 22 December 2010 by the same person who registered the Knowledge Edge site on 12 January 2011. Curiously the address and phone number given when registering both sites are the same as those of "Favour Catering Services" which claims to be based in Luton in the UK. However no company with that name is registered in the UK but it does seem to exist in Lagos.
There is a company registered in the UK as "Knowledge Edge Education Consulting Ltd", first registered on 7th February 2011. There's no trace of a company calling itself "Scholars Trust".

I must stress that I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with this company. It's just that a healthy skepticism and a little research can help guide your decision making. Particularly when someone wants your money.

It's amazing what Multi-Level Marketers will try and sell you

2011-12-21T08:26:00.000+02:00

An excellent piece by Kasey Chang on some of the more absurd products sold using Multi-Level Marketing.

Canned Oxygen, fuel additives, water molecule aligners and my favourite bit of magical glass, the BioDisc. You can't fault their imagination. Just their claims.

I get email.

2011-12-20T16:23:00.003+02:00

Actually comments on the blog. It's only fair that they are made public. Also so you can see the sort of silliness I have to put up with.

"Thomas R. Reich" commented on one of my posts about the fake Belford University (which Thomas can't spell correctly), saying:

"Stop this slanderous attack on Billford, obviously you are a person of low esteem, who did not qualify for a Life Experience Degree, and are disgruntled!"

Actually I'm perfectly gruntled.

"Anonymous" commented on a post about Herbalife, saying:

"Have you actually tried the product yourself? It bugs me when people have never tried something and they are quick to judge. If you have, and it didn't work for your then I can understand. I have heard and seen it work for alot of people."

My post in this case was about the criminal claims by a Herbalife distributor called Ignatious that he could "cure" heart conditions with Herbalife Products. I don't need to try a herbal "cure" for heart problems to know it's nonsense. Particularly when Herbalife themselves are careful to explain that they make no such claim.

It's also curious that "Anonymous" says "I have heard and seen it work for alot of people" when I didn't mention a particular product.

"behg" didn't like my comments on the ridiculous "Fundación Donaciones Humanitarias" and the equally non-existent "Sir Edward Cooper". He or she said:

"Mr. Harriman. Unfortunately you are very wrong about this individual and group. Blessed is he who believes but cannot see. Its called vision, little man."

A person who "believes but cannot see" maybe called "blessed" but is also called blind.

"Alexi" also commented on another post about the FDH, saying:

"What silly and childish little comments you have to add to such important accusations from your side. Clearly this is way above your pay grade/level of comprehension. If only you would look outside your world of blogs, you would be quite amazed at what goes on. It's a pity that people like you who are bored little (1.85m) men can sit and write about issues you have no understanding about. Your immature attitude is beyond me and don't deserve anymore attention from anyone regarding this matter. Maybe you should focus on where the "consumer" can buy fruit at a better price from."

"Anonymous" objected to me criticising the absurd "BioDisc", a piece of glass that apparently has magical properties. He or she said:

"Get your facts right on the bio disc and qnet company and stop jumping into hasty conclusions and deceiving the public. Ignorance is no excuse. The bio disc works whether you believe it or not. also Qnet does not demand ANY registration fee from customers unless a person wants to be an independent representative of the company."

The same day "Anonymous" (it's that person again) also commented:

"Richard, you had better research very well about Questnet and its activities rather than jump into hasty conclusions on the bio disc. POINT OF CORRECTION, QNET DOES NOT OPERATE a pyramid scheme, and two, they dont demand any registration fee from customers before buying the product. You only pay registration fee when you want to be part of QNET as an independent representative of the company. PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT AND STOP DECEIVING THE PULBIC. AJUBY."

Bits of glass do not have magical properties. If they did someone would have received a Nobel Prize by now.

The World Business Guide are still at it

2011-12-18T08:10:00.000+02:00

The World Business Guide, an online directory scam, is still at it. Emails are arriving like this:

"Dear Madam/Sir,

I am writing to enquire regarding the status of payment for the invoice no. 103971, issued for your insertion into the 2011/2012 Edition of the World Business Guide you have ordered on behalf of [company name].

The due date of this invoice was the 28th of November, 2011.

Our Credit Department will issue on Monday, the 19th of December, 2011 a Reminder towards your company.

Payment should be made within 7 days after the date of the reminder (In case of additional late payment we will charge you EUR 99,- Late Payment Fee and EUR 35,- Administration Fee).

Be kind and send us attached by e-mail or by fax the proof of payment as soon as the invoice is paid, in order to avoid the above-mentioned additional fees.

Bank Details:
IBAN: BG17UNCR70001519985205
SWIFT: UNCRBGSF
A/c#: 1519 9852 05

Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Best regards,

Ms Dana
Accounting Department
Tel: +34 91 188 1696
Fax: +34 91 791 9167"

Of course this is ALL LIES. There are no extra fees, there is no actual contract between you and these crooks. That's because they deceived you into joining their directory in the first place. Critically, despite their threats, they have NEVER taken legal action against anyone for non-payment, presumably because they know a judge would laugh at them.

Finally, some geographical curiosities:

They claim to be "a corporation organized and existing under the laws of BVI" (British Virgin Islands, a well known tax and scam-haven).
The phone number they give is in Spain.
Their postal addresses are post boxes in Spain and the Netherlands.
Their web site was registered on 14th October 2008 to an address in Spain.
The bank account they want you to use is in Bulgaria.

If you get an email from them either delete it immediately or reply and tell them where they can put their demands.

Do the right thing

2011-12-16T16:19:00.000+02:00

It’s not all bad news. I know it sometimes seems like we’re surrounded by crooks, scammers and thieves there IS good news out there.

A reader contacted us with a complaint about Orange Botswana last week. He’d bought a prepaid modem for his computer for P199 from Orange in Palapye. At the time he also bought P100 of airtime for the modem. Unfortunately try as hard as he might he couldn’t get it to work with either his laptop or his desktop computer. He did the sensible thing and called Orange to see what they could advise. Rather than try and fix things over the phone they asked him to bring both the modem and laptop to them but even they couldn’t get it to work. Before the techies start grumbling yes, he could use other USB devices, it was just this modem that didn’t work.

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, Orange couldn’t get it to work either, at least not on his laptop. They could, they said, get it to work on their computers. Eventually the customer asked for a refund as the modem simply didn’t work for him. That’s when communication began to fail. Lots of phone calls were made, responses weren’t forthcoming and irritation levels began to increase. Luckily before things got too heated he asked us for advice.

At 6:16pm on Friday 9th December I emailed someone senior at Orange asking if something could be done to fix the situation. Of course this was late on a Friday evening and there was no way I could expect even an acknowledgement until the following Monday, so you can imagine how pleased I was to hear from my contact at Orange at 6:45pm on Friday evening saying that she was dealing with the situation. I was even more delighted to get an email from the reader at lunchtime the next day, a Saturday I should remind you, saying Orange had called him and his refund was waiting for him. And when did they call him? 7pm on Friday evening. A total problem turnaround time of 44 minutes.

Simple really. A happy customer and a celebration in a national newspaper.

A few weeks ago we had a call from another reader with a problem. Last year he’d bought a P12,000 LCD TV from HiFi Corporation. Unfortunately a few weeks ago the TV was stolen from his home. He was angry of course but at least the HiFi Corporation insurance policy would cover the TV, no problems there. However when they offered him a replacement TV it wasn’t quite the same. Although it was an LED TV, technically superior, it was a bit smaller than the stolen one and only worth P7,700.. That wasn’t necessarily a major problem because the insurance policy offered an equivalent replacement, not a brand new TV. They offered him something similar to a 1-year old TV. There were no complaints yet.

The problem began when he politely asked if he could have a better TV if he paid the difference between the P7,700 value he’d been offered and the value of the superior TV he wanted. That sounds reasonable to me, it’s not as if he was asking for anything for free. He was happy to cough up the extra cash.

That’s when things didn’t work out. The store told him this wasn’t in line with their policy. He could only have the cheaper, smaller replacement. Rather than get angry he got in touch with us. A single email later to the HiFi Corporation Head Office, a bunch of emails within the organization and a solution was arranged. Of course he could upgrade his TV, not a problem.

Simple really. Another happy customer and another celebration.

Another thing we should celebrate is the growing level of consumer skepticism that’s about at the moment. We’re getting fewer and fewer people contacting us saying they’ve fallen for a scam and more and more instead either asking if something is a scam or asking us to warn people about a scam they’ve seen. That basic skepticism, the approach of not believing things simply because you see or hear them being said is a fundamental consumer skill. The more of it there is, the fewer problems people will experience and it’s not just something that will protect you from scams and deceptions, it works just as well when you look at advertisements. I saw an advertisement a while ago in the window of a beauty products shop. Despite being enormously priced and almost certainly useless, it said “96% of women prefer it”. Let’s be skeptical for a moment. Did it say “96% of ALL women”? No. We have no idea who these women were and what interest they had. It’s perfectly possible that 24 women from a sample of 25 chosen from the Marketing Department of the cosmetics company were the ones who loved it.

So for once it’s a week of optimism and hope for more and more excellent products and services.

This week’s stars

Tumie and the team at Orange for fixing a reader’s problem so rapidly.
The management at HiFi Corporation for solving a problem and ensuring a valued customer has an excellent new TV to watch over Christmas.
The team at Chutney Restaurant in Gaborone for being our nation’s No.1 restaurant on the tripadvisor.com web site and for having the most wonderful Dosas. If you’ve never tried a Masala Dosa go and have one today.
Michael in the EMS section of Botswana Post for his amazing memory and excellent service delivery.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

2011-12-16T16:17:00.000+02:00

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I bought a fridge in November 2011 and my first installment is due this month. However the fridge is still in wraps and I have never used it. I feel I don’t really need a 2nd fridge and I must have bought it on impulse. Can I return the fridge and have the debt cancelled or am I stuck with it?

Every detail was explained to me and I don’t have any complaints against the vendor and I totally accept full responsibility for the blame, I am just hoping since I have all the papers and the product is still in wraps and boxes maybe I can strike a compromise with the vendor.

Your advice would be highly appreciated.

Firstly, I respect you for being perfectly honest about the situation. Lots of people would try and find someone to blame for this and not take personal responsibility. We often hear from consumers who obviously made a mistake when they bought something and then make up excuses to avoid taking the blame.

As I’m sure you understand the problem is that the item is now technically no longer new. Section 13 (1) (c) of the Consumer Protection Regulations states that a supplier has failed “to meet minimum standards” if they represent that a “commodity is new when in fact it has deteriorated, or it has been altered, reconditioned, used or is second hand”.

An item like your fridge that had been sold and then returned would normally be seen as second hand but in your case it might be slightly different. If the fridge is still in perfect condition, isn’t scratched or damaged in any way and is genuinely still perfectly packaged the store might be OK in selling it as new. I don’t think any subsequent customer would worry too much.

It’s worth asking the store if they can do this. It might be helpful if you offered to pay them for their transport costs as an incentive. See what they say and let us know.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

A couple of years I purchased some books from a company called in South Africa. I didn’t pay for the books I received from them. In fact it was my fault that I did not pay them. I don’t have any of their contacts to settle my accounts. And because of that, I think that I have been blacklisted.

Please advise.

Firstly you should obviously make every effort to locate the bookseller in SA and see if you can settle the debt you have with them. Meanwhile it would be interesting to know why you think you’ve been blacklisted?

Whatever the reason it’s worth checking your credit history with TransUnion. You can do this at certain Post Offices.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #3

I bought a 42 inch LCD TV from HiFi Corporation last year worth P12,000. The TV was stolen from my house two weeks back. I claimed on the insurance and Hi-Fi agreed to replace my TV but the TV they wanted to give is not the one I had actually hoped for. They wanted to give me a 40 inch LED TV worth P 7,700.

I asked if I can make a top up to the amount of the TV they want to give and get a different TV. They said it is not possible according to their store policy. Do you think this is fair?

It’s certainly not very flexible. Nevertheless we got in touch with HiFi Corporation and asked if something can be done. We heard this week that they’d reconsidered and the customer paid the extra amount and has a lovely new TV to use over Christmas.

Good for HiFi Corporation for showing a little flexibility to a valued customer!

Another threat from NIIBT

2011-12-15T14:09:00.000+02:00

Another email from the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business & Technology", NIIBT. This time they want US$ 6 million from me. I don't think they deserve it.

"To:

Richard Harriman, Consumer Watchdog, the Mmegi and the Voice,
P Box 403026, Gaborone, Botswana Tel: (267) 3904582 Fax: (267) 39117
Email: wlmailhtml:watchdog@bes.bw Web site: www.bes.bw.

Richard Harriman,

On l8/7/2011 you arrogantly posted three links in your blog in the internet and many links in Wikepedia and nastily asked us to Google search for the articles which defaming the Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) as fake, as Malaysia institute, not a registered company, fake accreditation, scam, Richard Lim as none existing and fake, etc.

You even sarcastically asked “How’s business?

This is clearly shown that you possessed an ill intention to tarnish the reputation of the institute and intentionally to destroy the business of its agent Victoria Business Centre.

Tell us honestly how you how much you have been paid for the blogger job?

On 20/11/2011, you wrote again and agitated us to follow through legal action against you. You remarked that taking legal action against you was a silly threat.

You even dare to challenge us to lodge Internpol/FBI police report on you. Then you remark “So you were joking then?”

Do you think that the Interpol and the FBI are simply set up for joking only? Come on; do not show under estimate and disrespects the ability of the Interpol and the FBI. Show your respect on them, ok!

We have been very patient with you when you began to slandering and defaming NIIBT and its agent Victoria Business Centre in the internet since 2009. Your slanderous, defamation and unlawful interfere of the internal affairs of both establishments have affected our educational service greatly.

On behalf of Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent, Richard Lim force to lodge an Interpol police report against you of your wrong doing.

You are strongly urged to remove all the slanderous and defamation articles on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and NIIBT both from your blogs as found in the internet, Wikipedia, facebook, twitter and others immediately to avoid being sued.

A copy of genuine Interpol police report against you by Richard Lim, Senior Manager of International Affairs and Communication is attached for your prompt retract all the articles as posted in your blogs in the internet, wikipedia and others.

Should you fail to do so, you and your papers are really going to face the Interpol/the FBI plus suing you Richard Harriman, Consumer Watchdog, the Mmegi and the Voice, P Box 403026, Gaborone, Botswana Tel: (267) 3904582 Fax: (267) 39117 Email: wlmailhtml:watchdog@bes.bw Web site: www.bes.bw. for tarnishing the reputation of the institute and its agent.

Can you provide us your physical address?

Our claim for damage on slandering and defaming on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent is going to be USD6 millions. You are urged to treat this matter as serious and removing all slanderous and defamation articles on NIIBT, unlawfully using the NIIBT logo, unlawfully interference of the internal affairs of NIIBT and its agent in your blogs, etc from the internet and wikipedia instantly."

Some more facts:

Interpol. Interpol is not a police force. It is described as "an organization facilitating international police cooperation". You cannot complain or lay a charge with Interpol. Their job is simply to enable different national police forces to cooperate with each other.

The FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is a US Federal law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction is limited to issues affecting the USA. It has no jurisdiction or interest in fake non-accredited educational establishments based in Malaysia who claim to be based in the UK when they are, in fact, not.

The NIIBT. They still have explained why they call themselves "British" when they're not, why they link themselves to "Northern Ireland" when they have no permanent presence there, why none of their "academic staff" can be traced and why they claim accreditation from a non-recognised accreditation body. Why do they have a web site that ends in "org.uk", suggesting that they're in the UK when in fact this site was registered as a "Non-UK Corporation" on 20th February 2008 to an address in Malaysia (P.O. Box 195, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, 80720)?

Defamation. Section 195 of the Penal Code of Botswana say that comment cannot be considered defamation if "the matter is true and it was for the public benefit that it should be published". All other legal systems in democracies have a similar protection for fair comment. Malaysia in particular protects "justification" and "fair comment" in their Defamation Act 1957. Nothing I've said has been untrue or an unfair comment. OK, perhaps calling them lunatics was going a bit far but have you read what some of the things they said? (Reminder: "Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law" which meant me.)

The complaint above. I haven't mentioned them 3 times on the blog. In fact they've been mentioned 13 times. I only mentioned "Victoria Business Centre" once, I thought it was just their business address.

We get another lunatic email from NIIBT

2011-12-14T18:12:00.003+02:00

I get an email from the fake Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (NIIBT) threatening me with "the proper procedures of the law" because of my comments in the past. It goes like this:

"Hello Mr Harriman

How are you ? It's been a while. Greetings from Malaysia.
The purpose of this letter is to inform you for the LAST TIME to remove your slanderous claim on me, my work and Northern Institute of Business & Technology before we proceed in using the proper procedures of the law on you and your paper.

Your claims have affected my work and business. We are a registered, recognised and a well establish licensed organization.

My advice to you is that you

1. Remove all writings claiming we are FAKE and my existence as well. I am well and healthy
2. Public apology in your blog FOR ALL YOUR ATTACKS WHICH IS FALSE

This will serve as a FINAL warning to you.

Have a good day

note: you have 24 hours to response

Regards

RICHARD LIM"

Let's get some facts straight.

"Northern Ireland". The NIIBT has nothing to do with Northern Ireland. The web site claims an address in Belfast, specifically 20 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GD. However that's just a business centre where you can rent offices by the hour. You can even rent a "virtual office" where they answer the phone for you with your company name even though you've never been there. They have no real connection to Northern ireland.

"British". They're not registered as a company in the UK. I know, I checked with the UK registrar of companies, Companies House. You can check here for yourself.

Accreditation. They claim to be accredited by "The International Accreditation & Recognition Council" (IARC). This is not a recognised accreditation body.

Staff. There appears to be no trace of any of the academic staff they claim to employ.

Richard Lim. There's no trace of a Richard Lim associated with NIIBT. His credibility is also somewhat undermined by his use of a Gmail address ("richlim2u@gmail.com") to threaten me.

They're insane. Previous emails from them included things such as:

"Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law."
"FBI and Interpol are alerted on Internet Terrorists: Actions will be taken against internet terrorists soon who foul the international law."
"YOU HAVE REALLY GONE OVER BOARD RETRACT ALL YOUR FALSE CLAIMS OR FACE THE MUSIC."
"FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!"
"To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you"

And Mr Lim's request for removal of my comments and an apology?

What do you think?

Believing the unbelievable

2011-12-09T12:45:00.000+02:00

I repeat myself, I know I do. But some things are worth repeating over and over again until everyone understands them. I know that you, the one reading this right now, understands, that’s obvious. You’re a Mmegi reader, you’re intelligent, charming and outrageously attractive. However there are people out there not quite as fortunate as you or me. This is for them.

You cannot get a real, genuine, authentic qualification without doing any studying. You know this, I know this, most people know this. But the number of fake universities on the internet suggests that there are people out there who are either so unintelligent, lazy or greedy (or most dangerous of all, all three) that they think they can buy a degree online without doing any work.

Over the last few years I’ve had contact with an enormous number of fake universities and colleges. All of them have had one thing in common. They are entirely online, they don’t have a campus, they don’t actually employ any lecturers and they don’t actually exist. Their web sites are all very smart with pictures of smiling students and they repeatedly mention that they are accredited but this is all lies. In fact their accreditation is from fake accreditation bodies they have set up themselves. The pictures of students are just stock photos you can find all over the internet.

The real truth about these so-called universities is that all you have to do is give them your credit card number and you’ll get a fake qualification within days. They all do this.

What’s really surprising is that so many of them are all the same. I mean that literally. I suspect that they’re exactly the same people. In the past I’ve registered as an interested “student” using an assumed name and with a specially created free email address. Of course I didn’t pay any of them any money, I just got to the last step before that but already I’d been offered all types of qualifications from High School Diplomas to doctorates, all without any evidence that I was qualified, other than having a credit card. The interesting thing is that they continued to email my fake identity for months afterwards with increasingly silly offers. But then a more interesting thing happened. The fake email address started to get identical emails from other universities and I do mean identical. With the exception of the name of the fake establishment the wording was absolutely identical.

Clearly these fake online universities are all connected. So far, from an initial enquiry with Belford “University” I’ve been contacted by Belford, Corllins University, Universal Degrees, Headway University and, just a few days ago, RISE University. All of these are fake universities and clearly the same bunch of crooks and scammers is behind all of them. I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist but this is a conspiracy to delude the naïve into thinking they can get a fake degree this way.

Actually that’s not true. This is an area where I become intolerant. Anyone with the brains to know that a degree will help their career also understands that these degrees are fakes. They know they’re committing a fraud when they get a job or a promotion by passing off these degrees as genuine.

I also think that most people know that there’s no such things a genuine Get Rich Quick scheme. Other than winning a lottery or discovering that you’re the only beneficiary of a recently deceased millionaire (neither of which is ever going to happen to you or me) people don’t suddenly get rich.

At the moment the most common miracle money-making schemes are the Forex trading plans. Several are going around Botswana right now saying that they can offer you massive returns on a very small investment. Cashflow Pro promise you a return of 10-30% each month. If their promises are true that means after a year your “investment” will have increased by between 300% and 2,000%. Clearly that’s nonsense.

Another scheme I was asked about offers a return of “Up to 2.9% daily”. That doesn’t too much but on an annual basis that’s a potential return of over 3,000,000%. The first example was nonsense, but this one is insane.

Surely everybody knows that this sort of income is a fantasy? Surely everyone knows that anyone offering you this sort of return is lying? If anyone suggests that this is possible just ask them this. If it’s possible why aren’t the banks making this sort of money? They’re the experts, if they can’t do it what makes you think ordinary mortals like you and me can?

So why do people believe the unbelievable? Why do some non-Mmegi-reading people believe that they can get a degree without any work or make 3 million percent returns on minor investments? Is it just naiveté or is it something more sinister, something harder to forgive? I think the news is bad. It’s not just gullibility, I think it’s a dangerous combination of greed and laziness. I know we all want to better our conditions but there are plenty of people who want something quick without any work. This is where fake degree and income scammers make a fortune. They tap into naiveté and make money at the expense of the gullible.

The good news is that this would never happen to a Mmegi reader, we’re far too smart, moral and sophisticated. Aren’t we?

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

2011-12-09T12:35:00.000+02:00

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I have a problem with a generator I purchased which has never worked properly or consistently since day one of installation – leading to air conditioners blowing and numerous call-outs to my electrician to try to fix the problem.

I have made efforts to speak to the supplier about this and they are giving me lots of excuses. The manager has never returned my calls nor has he bothered to respond to the fax that I sent him requesting that they replace the generator. I find that unacceptable. The generator is and always has been under warranty and he’s trying to claim that it is all serviceable parts. I did not buy a generator so that I spend every month servicing parts or without electricity. I am not interested in any more repair jobs; I want the generator replaced.

Please could you intervene and get them to replace what should have been a properly functioning and useful generator, which I spent over P10,000 on in February this year? Obviously with the call-outs to my electrician I have now spent much more than this amount.

This sounds like a relatively simple problem to solve but this is also the sort of problem that can drag out, lasting longer and longer until the warranty expires and the supplier can try to refuse you a solution. I can imagine how it must be very tempting for a supplier to stall you when the problematic item is approaching the end of it’s warranty period. However this is exactly the time when you must try even harder to get a solution.

In your case this clearly sounds like a case when the supplier owes you a replacement. After that many repairs and callouts it’s obvious that this particular generator is not of “merchantable quality” as the Consumer Protection Regulations require. It’s quite simple. A generator must generate electricity and yours doesn’t.

We’ll get in touch with the supplier and see if they can’t find a solution for you.

Update: We emailed the supplier and 48 hours later they arrived at the reader’s door with a brand new generator. They’ve even promised to transfer the diesel remaining in the faulty one to the replacement. Not bad!

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

What are my rights when it comes to warranties? Our company bought 3 laptop computers for official and home use and the laptops are on warranty. Unfortunately one of them incurred a hard drive problem which is apparently a manufacturing problem and only the manufacturer can resolve it. We took the laptop to the supplier we bought it from so that they can replace it and transfer data from one to another to avoid loss of company information, then they refused. They say they must take the laptop to South Africa for repair and that will take 24 working days which is very inconvenient as the laptop has our accounts data on it. Actually we want them to give us another laptop so we can transfer the account software and data otherwise we will end up buying labour and licence to install the packages. Please supply us with information on how to deal with this problem. The laptops are HPs but we’ve now been advised that they are not original HPs.

This is very suspicious. The warranty situation is simple. The laptop you purchased is from one of the most reputable brands in the world and they offer a decent warranty and you’ll have a right to a repair or replacement. However, and this is a critical point, it’s up to the supplier to tell you which they’ll offer. If they can repair the laptop that’s probably what they’ll offer you.

This business about the laptops not being originals is confusing. Please send me the serial number and I’ll see what I can find out from HP. If the local supplier sold you what they suggested was an HP laptop but it turns out to be a fake then they are in deep trouble. Between you and me (and readers of The Voice) I know the company you bought the laptop from and they have a complicated legal history, having been prosecuted in the past for software piracy.

However, the bad news for you is that your accounts data is not their concern. It was entirely your responsibility to ensure that both the software and the data were suitably backed-up and ready to be reinstalled on another computer in this situation. You can’t really demand that the supplier fix that problem for you, this isn’t their responsibility.

Send us the details of your laptops and we’ll make some enquiries.

A South African advance fee scam

2011-12-07T16:09:00.001+02:00

You'd think advance fee scammers would at least try and get their English right, wouldn't you? This one is worth quoting in full for illustration. All the usual clues are there. The obvious nonsense about money, the cell phone number, free email address and the appalling English. However on this occasion there are extras. This one claims to know Jacob Zuma, sorry, "president Jacob zuma". You don't think he's lying, do you?

Parliament of the Republic of South Africa

PO BOX 15, CAPE TOWN, 8000 PARLIAMENT STREET, CAPE TOWN

OFFICE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENT
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
(RESOLUTION PANEL ON CONTRACT/INHERITANCE PAYMENT)
PO BOX 15, CAPE TOWN, 8000 PARLIAMENT STREET, CAPE TOWN

Attn: Sir/Madam

This is to officially inform you that we have verified your contract /inheritance/Wining file and found out why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled the obligations given to you in respect of your contract / inheritance payment.

Secondly, we have been informed that you are still dealing with some none officials/ex-staff of the bank, which made your entire attempt to secure the release of your fund to you, proves abortive.

We wish to advise you that such illegal act like this have to be stopped by you, if you wish to receive your payment since we have decided to bring a solution to your problem.

Right now we have arranged your payment through our swift card payment center in the United Kingdom or from our Ned credit bank offices, that is the latest instruction by president Jacob zuma republic of South Africa after the President Jacob Zuma on Thursday September 8th 2011 appointed Mogoeng Mogoeng as chief justice of South Africa., stating that Justice must be done to all This card center will send you an atm card which you will use to withdraw your money in any atm machine in any part of the world, but the maximum is (£5000.00 (FIVE THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS) If you like to receive your fund this way please let us know by contacting the card payment center and also send the following information:

1.your full name
2. Phone and fax number
3. Address were you want them to send the atm card
4. A copy of your identity attached to e-mail

Contact bank: Ned credit bank
Dr. Theophilus Tuelo Mogorosi
Director Atm Swift Card Center
Tel: +27- 790-733-433
Email: committeeofforeignpayment02@gala.net

The ATM card payment center has been mandated to issue out One Million British Pounds (£1,000,000.00) as part payment for this fiscal year 2011. Also for your information you have to stop any further comminucation with any other person(s) or office. This is to avoid any hitches in finalizing your payment. Call the director on his direct number +27- 790-733-433 soon as you reply to this important message for further direction on this regards and also update me on any development from the above mentioned office.

Note: that because of imposters, we hereby issued you our code of conduct, which is
Nedbk/atmscxx0x5x9x3x06 so you have to indicate this code when contacting.
Please make sure that your reply should go straight to the board of director email: as stated above. We are sorry for what you must have passed through.
On behalf of the Republic of South Africa

(MR. MAX SISULU)
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENT
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA