********* CONDUCT - SETTLEMENT OFFERS

Honestly, DMC has been haunting me for a long while to settle my accounts and because I was not employed and flagged that with them, I couldn't settle the accounts. Mid-2021, I received settlement offers for my 3 accounts - called and informed them that I would like to take them but will only pay when I'm financially stable again. Fast forward to now, I call in and the settlement amounts have been increased. They are now telling me that the offer they sent via SMS has changed and that their offers don't stay the same.

My issue here is that the SMS'ed offer did NOT stipulate that that it will expire after a certain period - in fact there is no end date for that offer at all. Surely, from a legal perspective, if you give me an offer without an expiry date then I can take up that offer whenever I can. There should be a date stipulated if the offer expires. I did flag that I am interested on that offer initially - it should NOT be my problem that their *********** staff members did not record it or the fact that they have missed a crucial point to adding the expiry date on the SMS. I need this to be fixed ASAP so that I can settle my accounts based on the settlement offers SMS'ed to me.

I just spoke to one of the consultants and she says "settlement offers change, they don't stay the same" - then why don't you flag that when you send us those SMS'es???? This is a huge slip up on the DMC side and I refuse to be a scapegoat for your communication errors. If you did not stipulate the expiry date on the SMS then consumers should not be held liable for this if they have the means to settle the accounts a few months later.

This company is quick to bombard you with calls 3 times a day demanding that you pay them even if you tell them that you are unemployed but then you want to settle the accounts based on THEIR COMMUNICATION then they want to increase the settlement amounts. This is highly ********* and *******...you need to make the terms clear from the onset! How the hell are we suppose to know that the settlement amounts you SMS us expire if you do not include it on your communications?????

Someone better sort this out ASAP before I go to the Ombudsman - this is not right!