![]() ![]() The OBS included it as a warning to consumers that chargebacks are not possible when purchases are made by electronic funds transfer (EFT). It’s called chargeback, and it’s a consumer protection offered globally by credit card companies Mastercard and Visa, via their issuing banksĪmong the case studies featured in the ombudsman for banking services’ (OBS) annual report for 2022, released last week, is one involving a chargeback request being denied by a bank. One of the best reasons to pay for goods or services with your credit card is the ability to get your money back if you don’t get what you paid for. If not insured, and your car has been towed to a tow-truck company’s yard, make arrangements to have it collected as soon as possible to avoid sky-high storage fees. If insured, call your insurer very soon after your car has been towed to ensure all is in order. Get all the tow truck company's details before they disappear with your car: full name of the driver, the company's physical address and landline number, and the registration number of the truck.īe very clear about where you want the vehicle to be towed, and make sure this is written on the form. Never let anyone phone your insurance company on your behalf, and don’t take their word for it that they are on your insurer’s list of approved towers. Ditto the United Towing Association of SA (Utasa): 0861188272. If you aren’t insured, save the SA Towing & Recovery Association's (Satra) 24-hour line - 0861072872 - on your cellphone, and if you're involved in an accident, call them for details of a Satra member in your area. If you have insurance, save the name and number of your insurer’s towing hotline on your cellphone, and call them when you’re in an accident and your car needs towing. Never sign any document where the costs are not stipulated on the front of the authorising form to remove the vehicle. With that done, you are free to decide who tows your vehicle. Know this: law enforcement can give a towing operator at an accident scene a lawful instruction to remove the vehicle off the roadway to the side of the road at no cost. “This despite being told that they charge R450 per day for storage,” Esti said.Ī representative of her insurer’s approved towing company later negotiated that figure back to the still exorbitant R7,500 to secure the release of the vehicle. That R7,500 had escalated to R11,900 by the Monday. “The company had told me that they work with my insurer, but when I checked later, they do not.” ![]() “They wanted R7,500 to release the vehicle, having towed it the 5km distance to their storage facility,” she said. Later that day Esti contacted the company to arrange to get the vehicle released. “The driver pulled out his docket, checked all the parts, made me sign it and off he went with the vehicle.” “I blindly accepted in good faith that this company was legit,” she said. He had an accident a couple of Saturdays ago, and because Esti couldn’t get hold of her insurance broker at the time, she accepted the quote given by the first tow truck driver to arrive at the scene. Well, Esti’s driver’s experience on a busy Durban road last weekend is fairly typical. Many tow truck operators offer an invaluable service at accident scenes and beyond.īut sadly there are some rogue operators on our streets, and they resort to very underhanded tactics to dupe people into releasing their cars to them - and then charge outrageous daily storage fees on top of a really high towing fee. In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |