Complaint: The actions of former trustees David Lepar and John Rollason caused the members of the Funds to lose a combined R20m, and despite this to-date these former trustees have not offered the members any compensation for this loss that they caused the members.

Respondents' submission: No submissions were made

Finding: The Findings of the Dynam-ique Commission of Enquiry were found to be thorough, well-reasoned, objective and credible. The Respondents actions had clearly and collectively led to the members of the Funds concerned losing a considerable amount of money, and despite this the Respondents had to-date not come with any offer of compensation for the members, let alone an apology to the members. This is a consumer abuse of the worst kind. Such reprehensible conduct by the Respondents cannot and should not be tolerated in society, and in a situation where these people were in a position of trust, owing fiduciary duties to the members of these Funds.

Complaint: In a television advert Unilever claimed that their Lifebuoy Total 10 soap is over 99.9% effective against Covid-19 coronavirus. Unilever were given an opportunity to provide evidence for this claim.

Unilever submission: Unilever provided a copy of research they had conducted as evidence to support the claim made

Finding: A review by Consumer Watchdog's consulting actuary highlighted serious questions regarding the credibility, validity and applicability of the research. Unilever were unable and/or unwilling to address any of these concerns and hence it was found that they did not have valid grounds for making the claims they were making.

UJ has advertised modules and/or majors on their website and in their Prospectus that did not exist, and then refused to refund the registration fee.

This means that a student can apply and plan their studies around studying at UJ and then come time of registration it could happen the module or major that the student was planning to study does not actually exist. And in the event that any fees had already been paid to UJ then this money could be lost to UJ.

Therefore it is recommended that students when planning where they intend to study should take into account the risks they take on when applying to UJ.

What can be done to limit your exposure? Prior to completing any UJ online registration and/or paying any money to UJ we would advise that you contact the relevant Faculty at UJ and get it in writing from UJ that the modules you intend registering for will definitely be going ahead and should they be withdrawn for any reason whatsoever then UJ will give you a full refund of your registration fee. More Info

 

When roaming in Mozambique on the Vodacom Mozambique network Vodacom South Africa customers are being charged R5 per mb when the out of bundle rate in Vodacom Mozambique converts to approximately R0.5 per mb i.e. Vodacom are applying a ten-fold mark-up which is excessive. This constitutes a consumer abuse.

Axxess sent out an email with the subject: Get through Januworry with FREE BONUS DATA!. However this was false-advertising and deceptive as the data was not free - a consumer had to sign up for a new service to get this data. Where a saving or offer is advertised, then any condition or requirement (the 'catch') that exists for the consumer to receive that saving or offer should be explicitly stated together with the offer.

Coca-Cola reduced its standard tin of coca-cola from 330ml to 300ml however nowhere on the tin did it inform the consumer of this reduction. To not explicitly disclose such a reduction is a form of deception and is deemed to be an underhand method of increasing the price of the product without informing the customers of such increase.

Facebook has refused to remove fraudulent profiles after being informed that the offending profile is not legitimate. This exposes other Facebook users to fraud and scams and hence constitutes an unacceptable consumer abuse.

Simba large crisp packets are only being filled to approximately the three-quarter mark. Oversized packaging is a form of false advertising and deception as it leads a consumer to believe that they are getting more of the product than they actually are.