Homemark again accused of taking money
HOMEMARK is taking money from their clients’ bank accounts without permission again.
An employee at the telemarketing company alleges that this is their way of doing business.
Pensioners are sold products that they do not need and when they return the goods, they are given a one-year voucher – contrary to the three-year term of the Consumer Protection Act.
The insider, who asked to be anonymous, gave us the details of the aggrieved clients.
The mole says they call existing clients, who mostly refuse the products because they cannot afford them. But their accounts are debited anyway, he says.
He says management dispatches the goods without listening to recordings.
In one instance, money was deducted from a woman who had died and they gave her family the voucher, he says.
He says Homemark needs a call centre manager who is efficient and who serves clients honestly.
“Can you imagine how much they are pocketing if they take R3 000 from 100 clients?” he asks.
The employee gave Consumer Line 24 names and we contacted some of the people.
Yvonne Stadler, 64, of Kraaifontein, in Cape Town, returned five unsolicited items and she was given vouchers instead of cash.
“A voucher they gave me last year will expire next month and I am forced to go and look for something I might like,” she says.
Vrederica Kroon, 66, of Pretoria North says she has been battling for the past 10 months to get a refund. Each time she inquires, they tell her management is investigating.
Dawood Foflonker, 60, of Mil- nerton, Cape Town, said he went to buy a book costing R350, but they did not have it. He was asked to leave his banking details and they would mail his order.
Instead, they took R3 160 from his account and sent him an iPad. On inquiry, they claimed that they have a recording of his order, Foflonker says.
Sithembiso Sonamzi, of Cradock in Eastern Cape, was told he had won a prize and they needed to confirm his particulars.
He told them that he did not want it if he had to pay for the prize, but the agent would not tell him if it was free or if he had to pay.
“A few minutes later, R2 996 was deducted from my account,” Sonamzi says.
He says he was only refunded after consulting an attorney.
In the audio clip in Sowetan’s possession, Sonamzi is only heard asking the telemarketer what product he was sending and what it did?
Madimetsa Simon Tladi of Thembisa, Gauteng, says money was deducted from his bank account without authorisation. He had agreed on a R225 monthly installment, but they took the whole amount.
The disputed R2 697 was reversed after he complained to his bank.
Daniel Nxele from Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, has been waiting since last year to be refunded after he did not receive an air bed, he says.
Homemark’s manager Nitesh Subban says they charge clients only when a sale is approved.
“We cannot charge without their consent nor can we deduct funds if they do not authorise us to do so,” Subban says.
He promised to forward clients’ recordings, but only sent us Sonamzi’s.