Column helps iron out CPA issues

I LOVE hearing that readers have got justice for themselves by cutting out or printing one of my columns on the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and presenting it to the company employee who is denying them their rights.

Occasionally that’s met with a “well, our policy is . . .”

But mostly, it works, as was the case with Dave Hopcroft of Northcliff.

He bought an iron at Makro’s Strubens Valley branch in March, and two weeks ago, it stopped working, well within its CPA six-month warranty period, entitling him to return it for his choice of a refund, replacement or repair.

So back to the store Hopcroft went, “armed with your most recent article on returning defective goods”.

“At the customer service desk I explained the issue and said I would like to have the iron replaced,” he said.

“The response was: ‘Unfortunately, as it is outside the 14-day return period, we will have to send it in for repair’.”

That prompted Hopcroft to explain his CPA rights, as outlined in the In Your Corner column he was clutching. In response, she made a phone call to her supervisor.

“A brief silence was followed by ‘Okay, thank you’ and then she proceeded to fill out a credit voucher.

“When I challenged her on why I was able to replace the iron only after I made a ‘CPA issue’, her response was that at the customer service desk, they are not authorised to approve replacements outside the Makro 14-day return period.

“It seems Makro’s policy is to see what they can get away with and only let the customer choose their CPA six-month recourse if he or she knows their rights,” Hopcroft concluded.

Asked to respond, a Makro spokesman conceded that “in hindsight, we could have handled the matter differently”.

“We endeavour to deliver the best customer service and abide by the CPA, and as such will do a refresher CPA course with our returns and reception staff at Makro Strubens Valley.”

I later learnt that Hopcroft, on redeeming his voucher for an iron identical to the one which broke, was made to pay an extra R100 as the price has gone up since he bought the original one.

Given that the original iron became defective within six months, the replacement iron should have been provided to him at no extra cost.

Something to add to the re-training session.