Complaint against Stannic

Good day all, Please allow me share our bad experience with Standard Bank of SA (Stannic) and Unitrans Motor Group of SA; We have been trying our best to resolve this matter for 10 years. This matter has ruined our lives. It all started in January 2008, when we purchased a vehicle from VW/Audi at The Glenn branch; the vehicle was financed by Stannic and was sold to us with a Unitrans engine warranty, with a Standard bank employee on the floor, supposedly checking all the details of the Sales Agreement. I bought this vehicle for my late daughter and her late fiancé and we chose this dealership, as it was part of national dealership franchise and not a small dealer. The vehicle broke down (engine failure) in March of 2009 and that is when all the trouble started. This was the last time that we ever saw this vehicle that was left at a VW Accredited workshop in Centurion, by instruction from the dealership. We had to hire a vehicle for them for the period of 28 months from an acquaintance for R2000-00 per month. Firstly they discovered that the engine warranty was false/*******, as it had a different engine number on it as the engine that found in the vehicle. We immediately notified Standard Bank and we were informed to stop all payments until they could sort out the mess with the dealership. I have been in constant contact with the Bank and their lawyers, writing over 150 emails and making more than a 100 phone calls to them. It was insinuated that I was aware that the engine was different than stated on the Sales Agreement!!!!! Why would I knowingly buy a warranty on the engine, if I knew it was *******???? I have never heard that it is the client’s duty to check the engine numbers. Surely that is the dealership’s responsibility. Sadly our daughter committed suicide in 2010 and in the same year her fiancé had a massive heart attack and passed away. The lawyers of Standard Bank then started legal action against the dealership and I was informed that we would either receive a different vehicle of the same value or be refunded all the monies paid. In the meantime the two parties came to an agreement, without my involvement or knowledge, and a settlement amount was paid by the dealership to the bank on 11/12/2013, and the matter was considered closed, by both parties. While all this was happening, Standard Bank then changed their legal team to another legal company, again without my knowledge, and managed to obtain a Default Judgement against myself on 3/08/2012, without any notification of their intentions. The bank tried to obtain a second Judgement against me on 27/11/2015 for the so-called shortfall that I, according to them, still owed them. I successfully defended this application by the bank and started the process to have the Default Judgement obtained against me, rescinded. Standard Bank’s lawyers, after being served with my Notice to have the Default Judgement rescinded, have contacted me telephonic and asked me to withdraw the case from the court roll, because they asked their client to not carry on with the legal matter anymore, as it would be a waste of time and money. As I was never able to afford an attorney, a family friend who is an attorney, offered to try and help us with the matter and only then the bank agreed to a meeting with us. We have had a meeting with these lawyers at the end of June 2018 and we were told that they would come back to us with an acceptable offer within two to three weeks, but nothing has come from it. The lawyers, representing the dealership, were interested in accommodating a sit-down meeting with all three parties present, but Standard Bank rejected this idea. This is a typical example of two Giant Financial Institutions bullying a normal innocent consumer, using their financial power to try silencing them. I can honestly say that all the employees from these two institutions have shown to have very little integrity and only tried to hide and cover-up their mistakes. To them I am just a little nuisance that would eventually just go away. However, I did not and would not just go away. I am seeking justification for what was done to me and my family. I have since been dumped into severe financial difficulties, as I am unable to obtain permanent employment, due to the blacklisting caused by this Judgement. We had to move out of our Townhouse and put tenants into our property, which we are in arrears of more than R70 000.00, and negotiated with the bank not to reprocess our only investment. I (63) am trying to support my wife (57) whom is medically disabled and three foster grandchildren, aged 8 to 13 years old, but am finding it to be very difficult/impossible. Fortunately we have been helped with cheap accommodation by a close friend of the family where I and my wife live on a veranda. We have been brought down and degraded to where we rely on purely on my small monthly pension money and child foster grants to survive. This matter has impacted our whole family, including our late daughter and her fiancé, and the total cost would be very difficult to estimate. Please be very careful, when dealing with any of these institutions, as they only care for their own financial gains and protecting their GOOD names and have no regard for their so-called clients, by just ignoring them and wiping them of the table, when challenged for wrong doings.

We hereby plead for any assistance to expose these wrongdoings by the “power giants” that thinks they are untouchable. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Hoping that we could find some justice and help. Kind regards, Kobus & Marie Rheeders 078 ********** / 083 **********