Friday 11 May 2012

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I got a credit card somewhere in 2006, with a credit limit of P9,400. The bank kept on paying the agreed installment until I was in arrears and in 2010 they handed me to a debt collector. I arranged with them and kept on paying through them, they updated my debt and yesterday when I called enquiring about my debt so that I can clear the balance. They told me that the balance was P3,700. The following day they called me and informed me that the balance from the bank shows that I owe P7,300. I asked how bcoz I have been paying whilst they kept on giving me the balance. They said the bank people said that the card was active so they were adding interest.

Can u advise me on what to do in this situation?


You need to speak to the bank about this. You need to demand a full statement from them showing the debt, the payments you have made and the interest they have been charging. Then you need to check that it’s correct.

The bank is, of course, entitled to charge interest on money you’ve borrowed from them. And yes, a credit card IS a way of borrowing money from the bank. The interest they charge is how they make money from you.

I suggest you get that statement from them and check it thoroughly. Then you need to talk to them about a repayment plan that you can afford and stick to. Let me know how this goes and if we can help further.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

In December 2011 I sent an employee to a cash and carry to purchase stock for my store including blended fruit juices. She didn't realize they had expired in November of 2011. The staff at the cash and carry hadn’t noticed that their products had expired a month before my employee bought them.

Now the cash and carry management are claiming we purchased these products before December 2011 but we have invoices to prove we bought them in December 2011. We have an account with them so they can go through all our purchases to find out if indeed we bought them before December.

Recently a customer came back to us with flour which had worms in it which we had bought from the same cash and carry and were reluctant to take it back. We purchased it from them on 17th April this year and the product expiry date was the 23rd May this year also.

This cash and carry doesn't want to take the responsibility of selling products that are not in good condition. Please assist me on this area because I can't be having losses on my part due to a wholesale not selling products in good condition. There is nothing I can do with expired products I can't sell them.


This is disgraceful. If this company is indeed selling products that are not longer fit for sale they are going to end up in trouble.

I suggest that you write them a letter outlining your complaint. Make sure you give them the relevant dates and include copies (not the originals) of the receipts they gave you. Make it clear in your letter that you’re copying it to us, the City Council, the Consumer Protection Unit in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and The Voice. Give them a reasonable time, perhaps 5 working days, to give you a full refund for the purchases you made or you’ll take whatever legal action you need to recover your losses. You might even mention the Small Claims Court as well.

Please let me know how they respond.

A question

How do you think I should respond to this question that was emailed to us? It simply said: “Are there any authentic online nursing schools?”

Please forgive my intolerance but who in their right mind thinks you can study nursing online? Anyone who thinks this should please never, EVER consider a career in Nursing.

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