Violation of POPI act, bullying, harassment and unprofessional business etiquette

As I am typing this email I am frustrated, sad and mostly in serious disbelief and somewhat emotional and traumatised from the harassment I’ve had to endure from the Beares store in kempton park.

A year ago I opened a store card at Beares and took a few items and later in the year I was unable to pay and didn’t communicate, that was my fault and I take full responsibility, to my surprise I never not once received a call from Beares nor from their lawyers or collection agencies on behalf of Beares instead one Saturday afternoon I get a message from my landlord telling me a lady from Bears store in Kempton park by the name of Connie came looking for me and caused a scene around 6am in the morning saying she and her colleagues are there to repossess because I owe the store and now can’t pay. I was very embarrassed that my landlord was given such information about me to a point that I had to move, like that wasn’t enough, I then received call from the receptionist in my workplace that I need to come to the reception there’s people who claim to have an appointment with me and they are not leaving without seeing me because I owe them and that I’m a *****ster, I went to the reception and Beares employees were there and the same Connie told me to get in the car with them they will take me to any loansharks so that I can pay my Beares account, I politely told them I don’t know any loansharks and that I will not go with them and they left.

The following Friday they came again and this time they were not in uniform they pretended to be parents who came to discuss their child’s performance at school and this time around I found them in my class during working hours and that put my job on the line because my employer had to intervene and even so they caused a scene, my employer pressed the panic buttons and called the security guards to come help chase them off the school premises and that’s how they left, as if that wasn’t enough, the following day I received a call from a police officer claiming that they have a case of ***** opened for me they are coming to arrest me because Beares laid charges of ***** for me and that if I want it all to go away I need to make means of paying that account and it better be soon because they are coming to my workplace to arrest me.

Because of that phone call, the constant harassment and the ************ I went and borrowed money to go pay, upon my arrival I asked for the finance department and I was directed, I paid and made an arrangement to pay R2500, mind you I can’t even afford that money but I agreed because I felt intimidated. R2500 is a lot for me, I can’t afford it but I wasn’t really given much to work on. Just when I thought the nightmare was over, I receive a picture of myself in the store that was taken by another Beares employee without my consent. A picture of me wasn’t captured without my consent and shared and now that was the last straw.

According to my knowledge and understanding taking and sharing a picture of someone without their consent is a violation of their right(POPI Act)

I need for this to be attended to effective immediately, serious intervention because I will not be taking it lightly and I am going as far as opening a case for Bears/Bears employees. I NEED THEIR BULLYING AND LACK OF PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS ETIQUETTE TO BE DEALT WITH. Thanking you kindly