Consumer Complaints and Reviews
Hi-Fi Corporation Corruptions
I applied for finance with Hi-Fi Corporation to buy a TV and were told that I need to include the Retrenchment Insurance cover which I agreed to, all went well and the purchase was approved. at first Hi-Fi Corporation then debited my bank account with two installments on 25 July 2019 which I then queried, the consultants apologized and promised me this issue will be rectified during the next month. Obviously as expected this never happened, even after having visited the branch and countless phone calls Hi-Fi Corporation failed to correct this error on their side. Eventually I just decided to leave this issue and carry on as normal, unfortunately on 30 May 2020 I received a letter from my employer at the time stating that I’m being retrenched due to the COVID-19 Lock-down where the company had to restructure their departments. I immediately got into contact with Hi-Fi Corporation and explained the situation as well as having emailed them the relevant documentation they requested. During the same discussions I asked them if the retrenchment insurance will be covering my installments to which I were advised on several occasions that I have nothing to worry about because of my account being up to date and with the retrenchment insurance cover also being in place for situations like this. One month later I received a call from Hi-Fi Corporation whereby they demanded payment on my account to which I explained to them the events that took place and were advised that the retrenchment insurance will cover my installments, the consultant then advised from their side that they have noted this on their system and ended the call. Again two weeks later I received yet another call from Hi-Fi Corporation whereby the consultant demanded payment on my account to which I had to explain the entire situation over again. I even received a call from Abacus in regards to the retrenchment insurance and were advised that they are the ones who handle these claims and pay the account in full or for the period of the client being unemployed due to the retrenchment followed by emails to confirm the discussions. The harassing phone calls started becoming the norm whereby receiving calls and emails including sms messages from Hi-Fi Corporation on a regular basis to as much as 6 to 7 times during one month time whereby they claim that my account is in arrears and demanding payment to bring my account up to date. Each time I had to explain the situation to a different consultant as it was never the same consultant who called me and on 14 October 2020 I received an sms stating that my account have now been escalated to an external debt collector being Walter Botes / ADRS Debt Collections and again being demanded to make urgent payment to avoid further action being taken against me.
My question; why did I then pay for the retrenchment insurance benefit in the first place as was requested by Hi-Fi Corporation as a must prior to being able to obtain finance? Why is it that each time a different consultant is asked to call me where I then need to explain the entire situation over and over again? Why is it that none of these consultants followed up on their side with Hi-Fi Corporation as per my multiple requests to find out why they are bending their own policy as well as quite possibly committing fraud? Did Hi-Fi Corporation perhaps receive the installments and quite possibly the full outstanding balance from Abacus which means that my account should therefore be closed and updated as settled in full? It seems to me from what I can gather when looking at all the facts that Hi-Fi Corporation might possibly have received the payment from Abacus but still trying to recover the same amount from me to show 200% profit on this initial sale!
I did not ask for the COVID-19 situation nor did I ask to be retrenched, our fearless President implemented the hard lock-down which resulted in hundreds of South Africans losing their jobs and raising the bar of the current unemployment rate in our country.
With this our government implemented a COVID-19 relief program whereby companies such as Hi-Fi Corporation were urged to apply for the fund relief as a gesture to cover their losses during this time, I suppose Hi-Fi Corporation might also have collected on this as well but still felt the need to harass the victims who were mostly affected during this time who now have no source of income as well as standing on the brink of being evicted from their / our homes!
One cannot suck water from a rock nor from a dry pit!
The interrogation & intimidation during these phone calls from Hi-Fi Corporation #Hi-Finance is uncalled for and will not be accepted anymore, please could someone with some integrity investigate this issue and revert back to me in an appropriate manner as to what is to be expected going forward.
Please do not try that kind of game with me, if you do your home work you will find that Hi Fi Corporation / Abacus debited my account twice in one month where I requested them to correct this which they never did and that is where the reversal came in after multiple in-store requests and telecom requests since the date when the double debit was done.
I was told that they would correct this but failed to do so, each time I was told that the request was never logged on their system by the consultant I’ve spoken to, when asked how this happened they confirmed that they could see who had spoken to me last and explained that they will sort this out.
Obviously just to satisfy me for the moment that is why they told me what they did, otherwise I would not be sending you this email right now.
As explained, I have been retrenched and have no form of income and that is why I notified Hi Fi Corporation as soon as possible especially to avoid issues like this which obviously again has gone either unnoticed or just blatantly being neglected by incompetent consultants who we as clients need to put our trust in.
My account was up to date when I notified Hi Fi Corporation about being retrenched and as such feel that any mistakes or miscommunications within Hi Fi corporation or Abacus should therefore not be my problem or judged as my fault!
Your demand, Please make a payment of R1947.22
Drain water from a rock because I have no income whatsoever, where do you want me to get the money from?
This is a mistake on your side and I strongly feel that Hi Fi Corporation / Abacus need to take responsibility for their mistakes instead of trying to milk a rock and demand this from a client who did everything in the correct order & procedure to prevent unnecessary frustrations like this, I will gladly take this to social media as well as HELLOPETER.COM & PISSEDCONSUMERS.COM should you continue with making false allegations instead of taking corporate control over your employees who continue making these kind of mistakes and trying to obtain double payments from clients and thinking it would go unnoticed.
This is fraudulent and as such will not go unnoticed from myside, I will take this up with the CPA if you also feel that skimming clients is a good idea!
I await your soonest reply with a positive and conclusive solution.
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