What a waste

An outgoing commissioner, embroiled in legal battles in a bid to save her job; a budget R100 million short of what it should be; a litany of errors in following procedure; and a department stepping in to take control.

These issues are rapidly turning the National Consumer Commission (NCC) into little less than a farce.

So far, the commission has failed to achieve even one single victory for consumers.

Nicola Mawson, deputy news editor, ITWeb

The commission came into being last April, after the long-awaited Consumer Protection Act (CPA) became law. The NCC was meant to be something of a white knight for consumers who had fought endless battles against big, bad corporate SA.

Under the law, for example, products can be returned for a refund, swapped out for a new one, or repaired - at the consumer's discretion - if they have a material defect within six months. There is also a cooling off period to allow people to get out of contracts they were pushed into entering after being called by a pesky sales person.

Speaking of pushy sales people, the law also stipulates when direct marketers can contact people - and when the phone, e-mail and SMS are off limits. Plus, a national do-not-contact database is provided for in the CPA - allowing all of us to pre-emptively block marketers.

There is also a provision to deal with airlines bumping you after you've confirmed a reservation and paid for it, and then there are clauses around companies having to quote you for repairs, outlawing a nasty surprise when you go to pay for whatever was fixed.

In addition, the price you see is the price you pay, and not a penny more.

The law was seen as a huge relief for consumers, who simply had no recourse when something they bought failed within six months, or worse, caused them material or physical damages.

It provides a way of getting out of fixed-term contracts and stipulates that these simply cannot run on endlessly, previously a bane for many people who found themselves stuck in endless three-year deals, because they missed the cancellation date.

Yet, if the number of complaints on HelloPeter.com is anything to go by, firms are only paying lip service to the law. Many simply do not know that it exists, or what burdens it places on the corporate and public sector.

There are endless issues about handsets that stopped working within two weeks, but have to go in for continual repairs; items that were ordered and never delivered with no refund forthcoming; and people being conned into those timeshare schemes.

Judging by the responses, many of these issues are never resolved in accordance with the CPA. Enter the commission, the white knight that is meant to be the consumer's saviour. Or not.

So far, the commission has failed to achieve even one single victory for consumers.

The opt-out database has stalled, apparently because its parent body - trade and industry - hasn't given it any money. However, the department argues the money is available; the NCC just needs to make a business case for it.

Judging by comments made by ITWeb readers, the commission will find this hard to do, as people in the industry are questioning how a simple cross-reference database can cost R5 million to set up.

That leaves South Africans with the choice of one of two third-party providers - the Direct Marketing Association of SA, or Trustfabric. Hardly a national solution.

The commission's track record of defending itself at the tribunal has also hardly been stellar. So far, it has won one case - just one - in the ICT sector. That matter wasn't even argued on its merits, but was won on the basis that MTN cannot hide behind its corporate structure to evade compliance.

Since then, the NCC has lost its bid to force Vodacom to change its contracts, failed to get consumers relief from the City of Johannesburg's billing crisis, and failed to tackle MultiChoice over its failure to discharge its obligations. All the cases were lost because it didn't follow its own procedures, which begs the question as to whether it is staffed with competent people who know the law, or whether it is going off half-cocked to prove a point.

In the latest fracas, the NCC arrived at the tribunal, apparently to argue a matter, but then argued it never officially received word that it had been set down. That issue was meant to be the first time the merits of a consumer issue in the ICT sector were argued.

Several other matters have simply been postponed, and seem to have fallen off the radar.

Granted, the NCC hasn't received nearly as much money as it says it needs. Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi has said it asked for about R134 million in total for the year, but was short paid by about R100 million.

However, this seems to be a thin excuse for its lack of its ability to protect consumers, considering that trade and industry minister Rob Davies has written to the commissioner after receiving numerous complaints about its performance, and the department has effectively placed it under administration.

Despite this, the NCC insists it is fulfilling its mandate. Yeah, right. It's just a pity that Isabel Jones died four ago, because she would have been the perfect white knight to take on dodgy companies. Although there was that brief stint when she punted frying pans, which raised a few eyebrows.

Regardless, Jones would surely have been a great choice to head up the commission after Mohlala-Mulaudzi walks out of the building for the last time on 3 September, unless one of her battles to stave off the non-renewal of her contract works.

Frankly, anything will be better than the current mess, which is turning the law into yet another pointless exercise involving a waste of paper and time as it currently has no effect. I'm not surprised that businesses pay it lip service; the NCC is yet another ineffectual body.

What a pity.