Lay-by policies in retail stores

MAY I have information on lay-by in South Africa please.

On May 15 I went to a shop in Musgrave Centre to lay-by a pair of Gucci sunglasses which were retailing for R7 999. I made a down payment of R1000 and on May 24 I made a payment of R2 000.

I returned to the shop on June 3 to make a final payment of R3 999, but the sunglasses were not there. The owner had removed them. I have not received feedback from the shop. Can the owner remove items from the shop that are on lay-by? Catharina Moodley

Georgie: Service providers may not unilaterally cancel lay-by agreements (which seems to have happened here). If you fail to meet the requirements of the lay-by contract, they may cancel the contract, but they need to send you a written notice and give you 10 business days to rectify the contractual obligations.

And they may also not keep your money – service providers may not charge more than 1% cancellation penalty.

Mrs Moodley’s sunglasses were not removed from the store for nefarious reasons – the owner took them for a photographic shoot and returned them.

She paid for the glasses two days later and received them in good order.