Windhoek
A 76-year-old pensioner has learned the hard way that not all shops honour the warranty promises made when consumers purchase items from their stores.
Jan Jacobs, a farmer on a smallholding outside Windhoek, says he bought a 7.1 kW petrol-driven generator from Renov Namibia late last year, but within a month the generator ceased to function. He returned the item to the shop, but faced an uphill struggle to get a refund as the owner steadfastly refused to honour the warranty on the generator.
The product was in the meantime sent to another company for an assessment to verify the fault. They claim the generator was overloaded. The report from the assessors indicated that the generator burnt the armature and field coil due to a bearing failure. Several other components were damaged in the process.
Yet, no one can prove that the machine was overloaded and Jacobs is adamant that it was not, as most of his farm’s appliances are connected to solar power. It now transpires that Jacobs has to fork out a further N$500 for the inspection report and N$10 000 to repair the generator, on top the N$13 800 the product originally cost.
Jacobs says on the day he bought the machine the salesman was quite convincing that the warranty is valid for every fault that might arise within three months.
Rensov Namibia owner Johan Taljaard, however, says there is nothing that binds him to the contract as he relies on the report of the company that did the damage assessment.
“We hardly had any queries from our clients. They bought many [pieces of] equipment from us. This is the first time such a thing has happened.”
Under the Sale of Goods Act of 1979 of South Africa under which Namibia operated until recently, consumers are entitled to return and get a refund if items do not meet the basic criteria. Everything bought must be of satisfactory quality, as described, fit for purpose and must last a reasonable length of time. The Chinese-made machine Jacobs bought to render light at his place, however, ceased working after only one month of operation, he says.
Namibia does not have a consumer protection law and in the absence of a comprehensive consumer protection legal framework, institutions like the Namibian Competition Commission, the Bank of Namibia, the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority, Namibia Standards Institute and the Namibia Consumer Trust, amongst others, provide some redress mechanism for injustices suffered by consumers in their respective sectors, jurisdictions and areas of interest.
Consumer protection covers a wide range of topics, including but not necessarily limited to product liability, privacy rights, unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation, and other consumer or business interactions.
Jacobs believes suppliers should advertise products properly by indicating the quality and contents of the product and the effect of using the product. “This [information] must show, on the basis of which consumers can make an informed choice when purchasing a product or service,” he fumed.