A purchase of luxury couches has turned into nightmare for the Mongale family after an online furniture company hit them with a R3,000 refund fee for cancelling the deal.
Phete Mongale has lodged a dispute with consumer rights authorities after Gorgeous Furniture in Midrand demanded R2,925 after he wanted his R19,500 refund when the company could not provide him with the specific L-shape couch he wanted.
Mongale’s woes with Gorgeous Furniture began in November as they were preparing to move from Ikageng Township in Potchefstroom to a new property in Miederpark. His wife saw cream white couches on Gorgeous Furniture Facebook page.
“She really liked these couches and I called the company to place an order and I paid them the full amount [R19,500] immediately. Hardly a day after I paid, they said they did not have the colour we wanted in stock and they offered us grey couches. We rejected them. We could not agree and I wanted my money back,” said Mongale.
The cream white couch that was ordered by the Mongale family.
The cream white couch that was ordered by the Mongale family.
Image: Supplied
He said the shop sent them an invoice, which showed that the company would deduct 15% refund fee.
“I told them I wanted the full amount that I had paid. It’s not my fault that they advertised a product they didn’t have in stock. They said that is how they operate. I rejected their offer,” said Mongale.
Mongale has since taken his dispute to the Goods and Services Ombudsman, but it could not be solved as the company did not respond to the Ombudsman’s request for clarity and information. The matter was referred to the National Consumer Commission (NCC).
Sowetan Consumer visited Gorgeous Furniture’s website and in their return policy it states that “20% handling fee of total purchase price will be charged on all cancelled order”.
One of the managers, who only introduced himself as Luzuko, said there was an error on the refund fee amount that Mongale was charged.
“We normally charge a handling fee of money coming into our account because we also get charged by the bank. We had charged 5% handling fee due to banking fees. The customer didn’t agree to and we tried several times to contact and communicate with them telephonically and still didn’t reach an agreement. We never received any communication from NCC to date,” said Luzuko.
He also said it did not receive any communication from the ombudsman.
Phetho Ntaba from the NCC said the ombudsman was for mediation and that her office gets involved when no resolution is reached.
“When a consumer receives correspondence like that from the ombudsman, they are advised to file a complaint with the NCC. This will afford the commission the opportunity to assess the matter to see whether there are inconsistencies with the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). If there are inconsistencies with the act, the commission will investigate the matter,” said Ntaba.
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