The National Consumer Tribunal has released a finding which – essentially – finds that Edcon has been unlawfully charging its customers a fee to belong to its club. This finding is very significant for Edcon who faces the possibility of having to refund customers to the tune of several billion Rand (yes that is ‘billion’) and the National Credit Regulator is currently looking for Edcon to undergo an indpendent audit to find out exactly how much money Edcon will have to repay to its customers.
To make matters worse the amount of money back dates to July 2007 which essentially means that Edcon has been charging illegal fees for over a decade.
The section of the law in question is section 101 of the National Credit Act which sets out the fees that a credit provider can charge and ONLY those fees can be charged. Any additional fee / charge is illegal and was illegal from 2007.
What is not yet clear (we don’t yet have access to the actual judgment – just the press release from the NCT) is whether further action relating to the criminal offense of overcharging (section 100 (3) of the NCA as amended in 2014) will still happen.
Someone has just had a really bad day…
About the Author: Paul Esselaar
Paul is the wise old man in the company and a wizard at coming up with innovative solutions to legal problems. He has been an attorney since 2001 and has a Masters in Electronic Law and Commercial Law. In 2011 Paul set up his own firm, Esselaar Attorneys (it is still going strong). It was around this time that he met Elizabeth at an over-crowded session on the Consumer Protection Act. They both noticed that the other was quite vocal on the subject – the rest, as they say, is history.
Paul specialises in Consumer Law, Electronic Law and the Protection of Personal Information Act. He wrote A Guide to the Protection of Personal Information Act with Elizabeth.
Paul likes climbing mountains, turning phrases into songs and pushing Elizabeth’s buttons.
He often (intentionally) pushes clients’ buttons too, but sometimes that needs to be done before real change can happen.
Want to find out more about Paul? Find him on LinkedIn or contact him on +27 (0)82 412 0024
