WENDY KNOWLER | Hidden car extras, load-shedding friendly insurance, hijacked deliveries

In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use: 

Interrogate those car extras

The National Credit Regulator may have lost its battle to stop car financing banks adding “on the road”-type car preparation fees to finance agreements, but there’s nothing stopping you for doing your own pushback at the dealership. It pays to interrogate “offer to purchase” agreements when you’re buying a new or used car. Negotiate any admin or “delivery” fee to get a big reduction. And ask questions about other extras, too — insurance policies, “scratch and dent” policies and tracking contracts, in particular. If you need those extras, source them at a lower price yourself. If you are buying a new car, look out for factory standard features, such as park distance control, being added as an extra cost. Yes, really.

Are your insurance policies “load-shedding friendly”?

Many South Africans are scrambling to get their hands on products or systems which will keep their homes powered to some extent during scheduled blackouts. Generators, invertors, solar systems — whatever your budget allows, there are important insurance implications to consider. If you’re going solar, choose your installer carefully. The electrician must be accredited and able to issue you a certificate of compliance on the job, because that’s essential to add the system to your building contents insurance policy.

That’s because insurance policies stipulate that the insurers are not liable for defective workmanship. 

That means if your solar panels catch alight — as we’ve seen in a few viral videos on social media — and you can’t produce a certificate of compliance, your claim will be rejected. If you have invested in a generator or inverter, don’t forget to add them to your household contents policy.

And here’s a tip for everyone: check that your building insurance — also referred to as homeowners’ insurance — policy covers a fire which started as a result of a power surge.  This is crucial. 

Courier van gets hijacked: must you write off your purchase?

That’s what the company which Someyya bought her R1,000 pair of leggings expects her to do. “The courier company sent me an email informing me about the hijacking.  I contacted the online retailer who told me it’s got nothing to do with them as the item was fetched, and I need to resolve it with the courier.”

So here’s what you — and online retailers — need to know: according to the Consumer Protection Act’s Section 19, “goods to be delivered remain at the supplier’s risk until the consumer has accepted delivery of them”. Clearly some online retailers don’t consider themselves bound by consumer laws, so this is an issue you should query with the retailer before placing your order. And if you can’t engage with the company to ask that question, or any others, take that as a red flag and don’t place the order.

Check your delivery address

I did a stupid thing. I placed an order with Checkers’ Sixty60 delivery service, forgetting that I had my last order sent to my friends’ home in Durban. 

I didn’t think to check the address now that I’m back in Cape Town, with the result that the delivery driver phoned me from outside that Durban home to say he’d arrived. 

Poor man had to take the groceries back to the store and cancel the order.

When I called Sixty60’s helpline, I apologised profusely for my stupidity, but “Kenwell” was exceptionally gracious. “It happens all the time, please don’t worry,” he said. “When the order is confirmed as cancelled, you’ll see a credit balance in your wallet, and then just place the same order again,” he said. “You won’t have to pick each item one by one again.”

All I forfeited is the R35 delivery fee. And the credit appeared within half an hour.  What brilliant service. 

So if you have more than one delivery address in your shopping app profile, check that the right one is selected before confirming your order.

• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via e-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.