Steinhoff Africa leaves poor vulnerable to *****; Identity Theft; Burglary, just to keep an unnecessary database... Sad.

<p>This thoughtless practice can lead to Bank *****; Identity Theft; Burglary and who knows what all else?</p> <p>I wanted to buy a fridge. I have been looking around and found the make and model I wanted at HiFiCorp Park Meadows - Bedfordview.</p> <p>I arranged for the fridge to be collected on the following morning and took out a debit card to make immediate payment.</p> <p>The Purchase Warrantee documentation was not available but was verbally stated to exist between purchaser and manufacturer only, for a period of two years.</p> <p>To complete the cash sale, I was unequivocally required to give over the following information:</p> <p>*RSA ID no</p> <p>*Full Name</p> <p>*Full Residential Address</p> <p>*Phone Numbers - all</p> <p>*Date of Birth and more besides ...</p> <p>To enter this information, I WAS ALLOWED TO SIT DOWN AT A STORE COMPUTER TERMINAL … I took one look at the range of fields and asked for the manager, Kazita, could not or would not do anything about this, stating that all the information was necessary for the cash sale. "If I do a manual sale," he said "then all we need is a copy of your ID" !!! Why!??? Does one need a license to own a fridge these days?</p> <p> </p> <p>Anyone who hands over this information together with a bank card deserves all they get.</p> <p>For the un-initiated let me explain.</p> <p>1. HiFiCorp/ Steinhoff Africa’ can sell your details as a marketing data-base which will be used to send you spam at best: your LSM (Living Standards Measure) is immediately evident: the nature of what you have bought, for how much, paid for it in cash and from which bank, from what sort of account is known, where you live together with all your contact details. These lists are quite legal as the purchaser in this case has given the information freely. If HiFiCorp/ Steinhoff Africa’ were not going to sell your details, then why do they insist upon it to complete a cash sale? </p> <p>2.1. If one uses the outsourced delivery service, then your address is known to that person and his employee's who use an unmarked truck... (? LOL!!), they can see that you are a person who buys large appliances in cash, where you live and whatthe nature of your security arranges are. These people will also have seen the content of your home... ‘makes one feel warm and fuzzy doesn’t it?</p> <p>2.2. The store employees and the whole Steinhoff Group IT department and whoever these people know, potentially have all your personal information that can be directly correlated against your bank card and whatever account that may be connected to.... all to make a cash sale.</p> <p>This unnecessary practice leads to ordinary and especially poor folk being ******** and ****** blind, just so that companies like HIFICorp unashamedly owned by the seeming respectability of Steinhoff Africa Holdings Proprietary Limited can keep an unnecessary database... Sad but evidently true.</p> <p>Markus Jooste & Danie v/d Merwe, I want to buy the fridge, and I want to do it without handing over my pedigree!</p> <p>P.S. "Debit Card or Cash Money same procedure" - Kazita, Manager, HiFiCorp Park Meadows - Bedfordview.</p> <p> </p>