Innovative Theft

On the 04th of November 2023 I purchased a second-hand vehicle at WeBuyCars (WBC) in Midstream, which was financed by Standard Bank South Africa (SBSA). The WBC’s purchase terms and conditions required that I also take a warranty policy (of around R11,770) with the Innovation Group, which I paid for immediately in full electronically. On the 15th of November 2023 – twelve days after the vehicle and warranty purchase – I wrote a tracked e-mail to Innovation Group (which was also copied to WBC) cancelling the warranty with effect from that day. Such cancellation was in terms of the warranty policy/contract, which provided that any cancellation can be made in writing or through a call within 14 days of the warranty contract’s effective date. Immediately after sending the e-mail, I received a tracker and an automatic reply confirming that my cancellation e-mail has been received and read. However, I never received any feedback regarding the refund of my R11 770 warranty money.

From December 2024 I made follow-ups with Innovation Group regarding the refund of my money from, about which I also kept WBC informed through the copied (CC) e-mails. In January 2024, I checked with SBSA if they did receive any of my warranty money from Innovation Group. I was informed that they had not. After they (SBSA) checked with Innovation Group about the non-refund of my money, immediately thereafter I received confirmation that they refunded ONLY R7 016,68, which fell short of the R11 770. I was then informed by SBSA that the reason provided to them by Innovation Group for this lesser refund was because I cancelled the contract AFTER the 14-day cooling-off period, which was very untrue as I have already indicated in the first paragraph above.

Upon further direct follow-up with Innovation in March 2024, they confirmed what I was informed by SBSA, namely, falsely claiming that I cancelled on or around the 14th of DECEMBER 2023. However, immediately after that, they called and then wrote to me confirming that they do have a record of my cancellation on the 15 December 2023, the contents of which are as per the e-mail below:

“On 2024-03-19 16:55, gatewayassist wrote: Mr B Shandlale RE: Response to Delay in Refund Complaint by Mr B Shandlale Complaint related to Delay in Cancellation Complaints reference number CP-3-2***6-SHANDLALE Policy number WBH23654 We value your concerns raised and confirm we have attended to the necessary to resolve your complaint efficiently We wish to reiterate the discussion with you on the 19/03/2024 Final Complaint Outcome: • On the 15/11/2023 you requested cancellation of your policy WBH23654 • The policy cancellation was processed on the 14/12/2023 • On the 20/12/2023 our retention division contacted you and you reiterated that you are not interested in the policy • On the 20/12/2023 you sent an email with requested document for the cancellation and outlined that the request for cancellation was made on the 15/11/2023 • We have requested that your refund be adjusted to that of a full refund as the above policy sold on the 04/11/2023 request for cancellation from you on the 15/11/2023 • The above confirms that the policy was cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period and therefore qualifies for a full refund • As discussed, a refund of R7016.68 was processed on the 05/01/2024 • We have sent a request for refund to be adjusted • Kindly allow 3-5 working days for the refund to be processed please follow up with your finance house as the refund will be done directly to them We take great pride in providing customers with effective and efficient service and we confirm that the delay experienced was inappropriate and unacceptable, and this is not the level of service Innovation Group aspire to. We appreciate the effort of bringing this to our attention and profusely apologise for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding. We are committed to the prompt and fair resolution of any complaint lodged and trust the provided feedback meet your satisfaction. If you require advice on complaints in respect of claims or any other matter that has not been satisfactorily resolved, you may contact the Short-term Insurance Ombudsman: The Short-term Insurance Ombudsman Postal address: PO Box 32334, Braamfontein, 2017 Tel: *** / ***Fax: *** Website: www.osti.co.za Email: *** Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely Megan Gamiet” Despite the above confirmations and promises, I still have not received the balance of my cancelled warranty money. Upon subsequent follow-up with them, they claimed to have paid the balance into my Standard Bank vehicle finance account, which was repudiated by Standard Bank. When I requested written confirmation of the claimed balance payment from them, I was provided with a proof for the R7 016.68 payment. When I indicated that that was no longer what I was querying, I was ignored until I indicated that I will explore this protracted matter through other avenues, from wherein they promised to escalate it internally. To this day, I have not received any feedback or my FULL refund from Innovation. Like it has happened for countless times in the past five months, my further follow-up e-mails are just Read and simply ignored. Dealing with this Group has been a horror experience, currently and previously. My numerous follow-up e-mails with them (which were mostly copied to WBC) have been mostly just read and ignored, until I indicate that I was making a last follow-up and/or that I will take further action. It is my conviction that this company has no intention of refunding my full money and/or honouring its legal obligations. However, it is also my firm commitment to explore all avenues to make sure that I get the last cent of my warranty money from them.