********** Business Practice

<p>My girlfriend and I took a mutual decision to have her open a STERNS account on March 30th. This would invariably see her purchase from any of the other 18 brands that fall under the TFG banner. We were happy with the credit limit afforded as well as the installment due following our first purchase. We had little to no trouble keeping to the terms of payment, and at times paying over and above the installment due - which has consistently been R150. On our most recent account payment (17 August), we were shocked to learn that in spite of the R50 payed into the account (early payment as it was prior to due date), the balance owing/ outstanding had crept up. We demanded an explanation for this anomaly as we expected to see a reduction in the balance seeing as we'd made another R50 payment into the account just 9 days before. The Sales Consultant attending to us seemed to be oblivious to what she also described as a "strange occurance", having dealt with similar complaints before. She enabled us to make use of the in-store telephone to establish contact with the Customer Care division. It was during this 5 minute coversation that my girlfrined learnt that there was an additional R24.75 that she was being billed for, for an apparent club sports magazine that she had not subscribed to. She probed as to the period of time this had been imposed, and discovered that it was instituted in June. That being the case, to date, she has been billed for a magazine she knew nothing about three times since the [June] commencement period, amounting to R74.25. She was agrieved at learning this as the R74.25 in question should have rather gone towards making payments on the account as opposed to a magazine she knows nothing about. As such, she would like a resolution to the matter pertaining to the magazine; that is, it should be cancelled and on all monies (R74.25) payed toward the magazine be returned to her (that she can make an account payment). The worst of this fiasco is the fact that she has hardly received this club sports magazine, including the fact that she has not been receiving her monthly account statements either by electronic mail or post. It appears to us that TfG are over-indulgent in making truck loads of money, even at the expense at those who cannot afford to be paying for anything in addition to their obligated installments on an account. No communication was sent asking whether she would like to subscribe for a monthly issue on a magazine? in the event of which whe would have vehemntly said "NO!".</p>