First-car buyer refunded

A FIRST-TIME car buyer who cancelled her contract to purchase within the 10 days cooling-off period will finally be refunded her R80,000, thanks to Consumer Line.

Ayanda Vumazonke went to Velocity Car in Canal Walk in Athlone, Cape Town, to buy a second-hand Polo 1.6.

She made a deposit of R40,000 and the balance was paid by a bank that agreed to finance her car.

The full purchase amount was R80,000, she said.

Five days later she received an offer to go overseas for six months, an opportunity she did not want to pass up, she said.

She called the sales agent, Zackie, and told him of her intention to cancel the contract.

Vumazonke was advised to send a cancellation letter to the Niyaaz Jainoodien, the director of Velocity Car, which she did.

At the time of the sale Vumazonke had requested the sales agent to install a radio and replace the vehicle's cracked windscreen, she said.

"When talking to Zackie they had not installed the radio or changed the broken windscreen and was glad I was not going to be charged or penalised for these additional items," Vumazonke said.

She said she was assured there would be no such penalties because she will have enhanced the value of the car.

But later she was told that Velocity Car would have to charge her a cancellation fee of R6,000 and an additional R3,000 for the items ordered at her request.

She asked for invoices on the work done and proof of registration but nothing has been forwarded to her until now, she said.

"I also called the traffic department and it turned out the car was never registered under my name had been transferred into my name," Vumazonke said.

"Though it's clear I was being taken for a ride," she said she agreed to a cancellation fee because the salesperson I was dealing with had told her she would lose that much if she cancelled the contract, she said.

"But their contract stipulates that if the seller cancels the contract then I will be liable for R6,000 but I am not the seller," Vumazonke said.

She later raised this with Jainoodien and also referred him to the cooling-off period, "but it was more like talking to a hard nut", Vumazonke said.

Writing a complaint to the Cape Town radio station Heart 104.9 FM did not help, she said.

"Jainoodien promised to sort out my problem, but did not honour his promise," she said.

A dejected Vumazonke later called her bank to tell them about her misery and to her shock discovered that when applying for finance, they had told her bank that she was buying a Toyota Hilux and had provided completely wrong information about the model and the year of the car she was buying.

"I think this is fraud," Vumazonke asid.

She said the motor industry ombudsman was another disappointment.

"They keep telling me to go back to the dealership," she said.

She said she was hoping the bank would intervene since they have a better title on the car, but got the same treatment.

"I have contacted my bank to inform that I am paying for a vehicle that I don't have and they could not help either, but should I stop paying they said they would want me to surrender the same car," she said.

Vumazonke, whose surname basically means "agreeing to everything", said: "I was even nice enough to agree to reimburse the company for any costs it incurred to get the vehicle up to my specifications".

"But he can't even produce the invoices that shows what they spent on the vehicle."

Jainoodien agreed to refund Vumazonke her money.

This was done last Friday, a day after Consumer Line took up the matter.