No help at all

On 29 December 2016, my 4-year-old Duratherm geyser (hot water cylinder) burst while still under guarantee. The manufacturers, W.E. Geysers, refused to honour the guarantee, first saying that they hadn’t manufactured it, and then later that the installation didn’t comply with legal requirements.

I promptly complained to the National Consumer Commission (NCC), who passed my complaint on to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO). After much to and fro over a period of months, during which time I had conducted my own research, they rejected my complaint, citing the manufacturer’s standpoint as if it were factually correct, and ignoring my contrary evidence. (They also said they didn’t have the necessary technical expertise, which I believe is true.)

Not satisfied with their decision, I decided to gather additional evidence to strengthen my argument. This entailed obtaining the relevant legal requirements, which are in SANS regulations. This was not easy and it was very time-consuming:-

• The regulations are not available on the internet. As home owners are required to comply with the regulations, I think they should be freely available.

• Plumbers weren’t interested in providing information unless there was something in it for them.

• The regulations can be purchased, but they are expensive. And there are a lot of them. And they are updated fairly frequently. So it’s not worth it for an individual such as myself. (They would have cost more than I had to pay for the replacement geyser!)

• And they are not available at ordinary libraries.

• Publishers are required to provide all their publications to a few selected libraries around the country. So all the regulations should be available for perusal, free of charge, at those libraries. I discovered they aren’t. I made trips to the nearest such library, and was able to study some of the regulations. But I discovered that this library didn’t have all of them. However, they were willing to obtain the missing ones from other such libraries, notably Pretoria. So I ordered some (for which I would have had to pay). They then came back to me informing me that even Pretoria didn’t have them.

• I also raised the issues on internet discussion forums, and was able to obtain much additional information, though I have no idea how reliable and authoritative it is.

I had already tried communicating directly with the manufacturers, but got no help from them.

All that took time. Especially as life must go on and I, like everyone else, have other commitments to attend to. But I eventually decided that I had obtained all the information I was going to be able to get. So I then, on January 13 of this year, submitted a long and detailed complaint against the manufacturers to the NCC. There was a brief exchange of correspondence, and then I waited for their response. On 22 May they informed me that they weren’t going to deal with my complaint as I had waited too long and exceeded the time limit of three years. (From 29/12/2016 to 13/1/2020 is 3 years and 16 days, so just 16 days over their limit.) They couldn’t even forward my complaint to the manufacturer, just to see their reaction. So it took them four months to say they weren’t going to do anything.

I objected, saying that this was not a new complaint but merely an update, a follow-up to my original complaint (which was submitted within a few weeks). They rep**** on 9 June that I had to submit a formal objection - resubmit my application - and the amount of red tape to be comp**** with was prohibitive. For example, you must include your “Prospects of success”. Based on my experience with first the CGSO and now the NCC, as well as my experience with the manufacturers and their local agents, I considered my prospects “slim to none”. Four companies were involved in this saga; three of them have closed down. And the fourth, a BEE company named “Duratherm Geysers” which was apparently formed specifically to buy out W.E. Geysers, has denied responsibility because it happened before they were involved, and they have since ignored me. (When they bought the company, surely they acquired not only the assets but also the liabilities. I did ask them for the contract, but they never sent it.) And I would have to serve the objection on the company, and they are 1400km away, which doesn’t help. And do all this within 20 business days.

So I haven’t submitted an objection to the NCC.

I see that there are many complaints about the NCC on HelloPeter (and about the CGSO), and they don’t reply to the complaints. Maybe the NCC should be reported to the Public Protector.

(There are also many complaints about W.E. Geysers and now Duratherm Geysers on HelloPeter. In fact, until a month ago, they had almost entirely extremely negative reviews. But then began a spate of highly positive reviews, by first-time reviewers. I’m suspicious.)