No refund despite no service because I was "demanding"!

<p>I paid this Durban-based company, represented by one Andrea Lowe, to submit my UIF claim for maternity leave benefits. Every-one knows that the point of the exercise was to avoid the inconvenience of dealing with the Department of Labour, right? Well, apparently not in the view of this company. An amendment to the UIF Act was passed to prevent agents submitting claims. Instead of refunding me, Labour Matters expected me to contact the Labour Department by phone (!) so they could submit my claim online (which I could do myself in any event). Any-one who has tried to call the average Government Department knows this is an exercise in futility. After I instructed another UIF agency who did not have ridiculous - near impossible - requirements, Labour Matters wised up and figured out that they could still submit my claim without me having to contact the Department. According to my new UIF agent, Labour Matters was the only company who appeared to be confused about what the Department would permit under the new legislation. As Labour Matters had not submitted my claim and had done next to nothing for me, I asked for a refund of half of my fee. (Rather reasonably, I thought, I did not request repayment of the whole fee.) However, on pressing the question of why they thought they were entitled to retain the whole fee, despite the fact that I had terminated their services, one of the answers given was that I had been "demanding". Newsflash: I paid this company to do a job, not to like me. It's a pity that this company believes that their confusion and inability to deal with high expectations (or demanding customers, however you want to cut it) entitles them to payment for not doing what they paid to do.</p>