A customer of Morkels is livid after the furniture store referred his account to its lawyers to demand payment for goods they have not delivered since 2006.

A customer of Morkels is livid after the furniture store referred his account to its lawyers to demand payment for goods they have not delivered since 2006.

Sibusiso Magwaza of Palm Springs in the Vaal feels the furniture store has abused its powers by referring his account to their attorney, who is now harassing him for payment. "They are also threatening to blacklist me as a bad payer," he said.

Magwaza bought sofas worth R21000 but stopped paying his instalments because Morkels had failed to deliver the sofas as promised. He had a balance of R3000 when he stopped paying.

Magwaza said Morkels had delivered broken furniture - which he immediately rejected.

"The wood frames for a sofa and chair were broken and the seats were torn," he said.

He called the store manager who promised to collect the goods as soon as possible, but only did so three months later.

"They gave me second-hand sofas to use while they were repairing mine. Mind you, I did not break them, they did," said Magwaza.

"I was shocked because I expected Morkels to exchange the broken sofa and chair - not to repair it," said Magwaza.

He said Morkels kept his sofas until they disappeared from their premises.

Magwaza said he then demanded his money back when he discovered that they had sold him a floor sample which was already damaged.

"I was furious with the store manager," Magwaza said.

"The salesperson then asked me to choose a new set, which they promised to deliver within three weeks."

But he says Morkels called him instead, to say they could not approve his new contract as he was over-indebted because he had bought a bedroom suite from Town Talk, a rival furnisher store.

Peggy Makwela, a manager at Morkels, Jeppe Street, Johannesburg, said she was not aware of Magwaza's experience but promised to investigate.