Our gift to readers

Consumer Line is proud to say that we recovered R8.7-million for our readers.

We received thousands of complaints but unfortunately, we could not resolve all the queries because a year is just not long enough to handle so many complaints.

But Consumer Line managed to recover individual amounts ranging from as little as R33 to as much as R1,7-million.

Old Fashioned Fish and Chips alone refunded R1.7-million after our intervention.

So far only one franchisee, Bheki Mhlanga, has not been refunded his R200000 after he tendered his cancellation letter. He should get his refund after the 30-day expiry of cancellation, which falls on December 21.

Workman's Compensation also compensated employees who had waited for years to get paid after lodging claims.

The Department of Health also paid a former employee her pension after she had waited for six years for her money. It took Consumer Line only a month to help her.

Some lawyers were found wanting and only released clients, compensation after we stepped in.

- August Mocha Lekgoba, 35, was injured in a freak road accident. He said the taxi in which he was travelling had two separate punctures that caused the vehicle to overturn.

He had engaged the services of Frans Schutte attorney. He was paid out but he accused the firm of wanting to take his entire compensation as legal fees. Lekgoba was paid R260000 a month ago, only a few weeks after we published his story.

- Sesi Ngoma waited for three years before the Road Accident Fund (RAF) compensated her. But when RAF paid out she battled to get her money from her attorneys, who wanted to give it to her in dribs and drabs.

Consumer Line assisted her in lodging a formal complaint with the Law Society of Northern Province when their attorneys failed to release her money within a reasonable period of time. She received R400000 within three weeks.

- We also helped a consumer who battled to get a refund of R574000 from smart phone providers who had refused to take back their gadgets from a man who was almost scammed by fraudsters who posed as government officials trying to defraud small businesspeople.

- Insurance giant Chartis Life, formally AIG, which was accused of rejecting a claim on the grounds that the client had the incorrect birth date on her identity document when she signed the policy, had to pay out after Consumer Line's intervention.

The claimant, Themba Ndaba, had tried for seven years to sort out his late mother's death payout, without luck.

Ndaba told Consumer Line his mother was issued with an ID bearing an incorrect birth date, making her much older than she actually was.

This made it difficult for him to claim from Chartis Life as his mother's ID number did not correspond with that on her death certificate.

The Department of Home Affairs wrote a letter to Chartis Life confirming that they were to blame for the error, but Chartis Life would not budge.

It took only two weeks for Chartis Life to pay Ndaba his R100000 benefit after Consumer Line intervened.

This benefit was paid without the interest Chartis Life had unfairly kept for seven years after the claim was made.

- Geqezile Ntombela, an illiterate widow, who was allegedly defrauded by Shiraz Motors, was refunded her R30000 last Thursday, only hours after Sowetan agreed to help her.

Gervas Dlamini, who waited for 10 years for the RAF to compensate him for the loss of his wife in a road accident, was eventually compensated two months ago. After Consumer Line intervened, it took 18 months for the RAF to compensate Dlamini. He was paid R4000.

And Sgegede Radebe was refunded his R33 after he complained about fake Camel cigarettes he had bought from a spaza shop in Jeppestown, Johannesburg, in May this year.

Consumer Line will not give up on our readers and we will endeavour to assist wherever we can. We will fight for you until the bitter end.

We at Consumer Line will be closing for the festive season on Friday and reopen on January 18.

Until then, Merry Christmas and a blessed 2013.