LM
Lusanda M

1 reviews | Active since Feb 2018

15 Sept 2021, 12:46

Deduction error handled miserably and a very rude base of collections consultants

I have had an account with Homechoice for +- 3 years now and have not missed any payment with them in all theses years. This month I am furnished with a statement that shows an arrear amount of R804.25 which is obviously a shock to me as I have a debit order set up with Homechoice. I send an email to Homechoice asking for clarity on the arrear amount mentioned on Saturday (11/09/2021) and am informed by a Ncedo Mooi that the instalment amount was reversed... quiet obviously this is a shock to me as I did not reverse any payments from Homechoice. I then request for statment showing this reversal transaction to be sent to me and once again, obviously Ncedo takes his time to reply. I then contact Homechoice myself on the Monday (20/09/2021) and speak to a Mushfika who informs me that the deduction was attempted on the 25th of August and reversed on the 26th of August by me. As if the shocking info isn't already at it's highest, I then question firstly, why my account was debited on the incorrect date (my agreed deduction date is the 27th) whereas there was no public holiday or weekend that would have interrupted their deduction, secondly I ask why is it that this supposed reversal is being blamed on me when I am adamant that I did not reverse any payment from Homechoice. I then request for the matter to be escalated to a manager and am asked to send an email with screenshots of my bank statement (which by the way, show no transaction from Homechoice on the 25th or 26th of August), which I obviously comply with. That very same day I am contacted by a very rude Homechoice collections consultant wanting to know when I am going to make payment for my account, I ask her to please add comments on the system informing that I have a query in progress and will not make any arrangements with anybody until I get the necessary feedback. On Tuesday, I decide to contact Homechoice once again for feedback on my query. On this day I speak to Crystal, who is very nice and understanding and sees where the problem is (Call ***). She then informs me that there was a glitch on the Homechoice system which led to this mishap, she will need to log a query for a recon to the finance department and request that the collections department not call me. Now, I am happy because it seems that I have eventually spoken to someone with a bit of brains. However, to my surprise I am contacted again on Wednesday by a rude Homechoice collections consultant demanding payment. Call ends abruptly, ended by me of course as I was just about fed up of being insulted by these collections consultants. I then decide to contact Homechoice myself again and am assisted by a lady named Gcobisa (Call ***). I ask for the Compliants department number or to speak to a supervisor, and... no surprise, that is not possible I am informed. I can only email the complaints department (which I have already done and a complaint has been filed with the Consumer Goods Ombudsman). The lady asks me to please inform her what my complaint is and she will see how she can help. At this point I have had enough, however at least some light is shed. Gcobisa informs me that indeed there was a glitch somewhere which led to an incorrect attempted deduction of R962.82 off my account and her system reads "Duplicate response received and processed in error" which meant that Homechoice had to then reverse the incorrect deduction themselves. What they also then went and messed up is my actual deduction on the 27th (2 days after their glitch) which they did not attempt to deduct for whatever reason. For a customer who has never missed a single payment to be informed that it is also my fault because I needed to ensure that the debit order went through is just ridiculous for me. When we are probed for banking details for these arrangements we are informed that it is to our benefit as payments will be made accurately on the dates supp**** by me as a customer. Yet, on the flip side of it, when their system glitches, it is also my fault for not checking that the payment went off? How freaking convenient. I have asked for the debit order to be cancelled, if Homechoice cannot behave themselves with my account then have the audacity to blame me for glitches on their system then I'll rather manage payments my self. I have also asked for a manager to call me because I refuse to pay that arrear amount! I am absolutely disgusted in how Homechoice treats their paying customers and how their collections department disregards people and how rude obligated they feel to your time and yet disrespect it when you give it to them. I have heard horror stories about Homechoice before I took out an account with them but felt that if I did what I needed to do as a consumer then there would be no problems... Look at me regretting my choices. Sies Homechoice!

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Replies (2)
Homechoice
Homechoice's reply15 Sept 2021, 13:32
Official
Hi Lusanda.

We’re very sorry to hear about the poor service you experienced. 

Please give us an opportunity to get to the bottom of what went wrong so that we can resolve this.

We will be in contact with you shortly to assist in resolving the issue.

Thank you.
Homechoice
 

LM
Lusanda M's update23 Sept 2021, 11:40
Reviewer Update
Hi,

I'd like to thank the supervisor who contacted me after this review and was able to resolve my issue politely and quite quickly actually.

It is a pity that none of the consultants I spoke to had the ability and information to assist, the fact that I had to get to these lengths to get assistance.

Train up your people and give them the relevant tools to be able to be more efficient when resolving queries.

Thanks