Misrepresentation/DSTV ****

<p>I bought a Dstv decoder because the sales lady at Makro explained the pre-paid option - I would never have entered into a contract with Dstv because I am not in a position to make such a commitment. With this in mind, when I could not afford the subscription for January, I did not pay and expected my service to be suspended. On 30 December at 9:54pm, I recieved an SMS telling me to "Avoid reconnection fees and pay R759.00 that's due today". I understood the concept of this reconnection fee because it had been explained to me by the sales lady. I continued to receive threatening SMSes instructing me to pay but my service had not been suspended so I called in to explain my situation and seek clarity. I explained to a lady called Zanele that I CANNOT afford to pay for January, but told her I was prepared to pay pro-rata up until 10 January when I lodged the complaint. Rather than listen to and then assist me, Zanele kept giving me reasons why I was at fault - to the point that she wanted to know if the sales lady was from Multichoice or from Makro because they had not been clear when selling the product to me. Is it my problem if Multichoice is allowing Makro staff to sell their products without full understanding of the nature of these products? Absolutely not. I asked the necessary questions to ensure my financial security and was happy with the information provided - the fact that this information was misleading is Multichoice's problem. </p> <p> </p> <p>In short:</p> <p>I entered into a pre-paid agreement, of which the Terms and Conditions clearly state that "We will provide the Service to you on a pre-paid basis"and that "In order to have continued access to the Service you must make, and we must receive, payment of your Fees in advance on or before the Monthly Due Date". This was supported by the information given to me by the sales lady.</p> <p>I called to inform that despite this, my service had not been suspended and am now being told to pay for the full month (which, again, I cannot afford).</p> <p>I shouldn't even have to pay pro-rata if Multichoice failed to disconnect the service, but I thought this might be the easiest, most ammicable and affordable resolution - but Multichoice would clearly prefer that I pay for January and then cancel entirely. </p> <p> </p> <p>Guess my next step will be to take this up with the National Consumer Tribunal.</p>