Avbob? Con Artists???

My father passed away on 27 May 2020. Upon his death a cousin who moonlights as a driver on weekends for Avbob suggested that we use them for his funeral and always a sucker for a new adventure I agreed. The next day, I met with a young man named Paul (not his real name) at the Avbob offices in Jabulani, Soweto who took me through the available options for the funeral. He was courteous, well-versed and demonstrated a soft-spoken empathy in his dealings with me. The impression he gave was of someone you could trust and I did. At the end I thanked him for his time and promised to be in touch. At the time the family’s thinking was that the burial should take place in the North West where most of the family is also buried. Given the cost of transporting my father's body as outlined by Paul, I felt the need to shop around for a more affordable proposition. Later that day I met with Paul again to pay for the death certificate, which I fetched the next day. Until then he had been the picture of professional service. Subsequently the family would decide that given the Covid-19 situation, it would be advisable to bury him in Joburg. When I went back to Avbob, to get a quote sans transportation costs, etc, I already had about three quotes from various undertakers. The quote when Paul gave it to me was on a single sheet of paper. It included such exotic items as 100 programs, family car, coffin spray, flowers, mkhuku, etc. The total was a little under R30000. He then turned the sheet over and informed me that this was the same quote but with a discount included. The first few items in this list were identical with the aforementioned list and from all appearances they were identical. The final total, with discount, was impressive. But wait there was more. He told me that he was awaiting sign off on another system discount and that the final amount would be further reduced. I thought I was dreaming. Although I had a cheaper quote and given the nuisance value of moving my father from one undertaker to another I decided on the spot that we would use Avbob for the funeral. I was also encouraged by Paul’s professional demeanour and general display of competence. The next day, having been informed of the final amount via phone, I returned to Avbob and paid the full amount in cash. The Monday before the funeral I met with my cousin at Avbob’s office to prepare my father for burial. During this visit I was surprised to learn that an additional R1500 would be required for the family car. I was certain that this was included in Paul’s quote. Fortunately, Paul was still at the office as we were leaving and when asked about this, he insisted the family car was not included. I was awed. I went to the car to fetch the quote to show him but didn't find it. Moving on, I requested that in addition to the flowers that were already part of the already paid Avbob service, I would need three additional wreaths. Surprise, surprise! The coffin spray and other flowers that were listed in the initial quote were also not included in the final quote. Thus I ended up forking out an additional R1200 to pay for the flowers. I was truly blessed. Had I not been there on that afternoon, I would have discovered on the morning of my father’s funeral that a bunch of things that I were in the initial quote had actually been removed in the final one. Imagine the embarrassment and apparent incompetence had this only been discovered during the funeral. When I arrived home and went through the quotes again, I discovered that Paul had in fact hoodwinked me. It was all a con. In a nutshell, here’s how it worked: 1. Show the bereaved customer/mark the “ideal” quote which includes all the “basics”. (They are after all distracted by this whole mourning thing) 2. Turn the page over thus removing the initial quote from their eyes. (Who is going to be so pedantic as to switch between the two sides to make sure everything was the same) 3. Inform the mark/customer that this is the same quote as the other one but a discount has been app****. (What's a little lie between "friends") 4. Make sure the first few items listed are similar in both lists. (If you're lucky they won't read though the rest of the list) 5. Let human nature take its course. (90% maybe 100% of the time the deal is closed) To be clear. If you look through any list and the first few items are the same, most people assume that the lists are identical. In this instance, most people, after being assured that the quotes are the same, will likely not even study the second, “discounted” list of items at all. This is the con that Paul executed very professionally on me. And given how well he did it, I couldn't help feeling, a bit sadly, that I was not his first mark. That this was a basic tenant of business at Avbob. At no point since then has he contacted me to give me a receipt for the flowers that I paid for after the fact. So I approached the branch manager Zoli (not his real name) to discuss this problem with him. He told me he was due to fetch a Covid-19 victim from the nearby hospital and would contact me later to discuss this fully with Paul present. He never did. Despite at least three attempts on my part to meet with him again.

Subsequently, I obtained his manager’s name and on the 21 August 2020 contacted that office. There I spoke to a woman named Zelda (not her real name) who told me she was in charge of customer care and whatever problems I had, she was willing and able to help. I related the whole story to her, at which point she feigned indescribable shock at this "awful" service I received from her colleagues. She gave me an email address and asked me to put the whole thing in writing so that she could take it up with them. I did as requested. Since then she has ignored all my follow up mails. Two weeks ago I got another "customer care" email address from Avbob's website and sent yet another email to those people. Again pure, unadulterated silence.

Oh...Avbob. How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Having said that friends and neighbours. Bereaved or otherwise. Be warned. and be careful. Be very careful. There is one hiding, lurking, waiting behind every rock. At least, if you happen to be in a place called Avbob.