ZimJustice urges DStv’s parent company Multichoice to urgently investigate and address these allegations, so that they may be immediately rectified, as it is likely to lose its clientele to alternative digital satellite television service providers.
ZimJustice talked to several DStv customers, after receiving an initial complaint from one disgruntled client, who claimed that he had been defrauded his subscriptions and had his services disconnected, in spite of the fact that he had paid in advance.
He told ZimJustice that he had paid his subscriptions three months in advance in March 2018 – which were supposed to cover monthly cycles up to June 2018 – yet, he was shocked to discover that DStv had disconnected his services on 8 May 2018.
He further alleged that when he contacted DStv, he was met with statements that did not make any sense, and at times were contradictory.
At one time, he was told that two months subscriptions, from the initial three months, had been reversed – yet, he had never made such a request.
He then claimed that moments later, he was told that six months’ subscriptions had been reversed by his bank – as he had paid via mobile banking – meaning that all the subscriptions that he had ever paid to DStv had been reversed.
To him, this further added to the confusion, as he never instructed his bank to reverse any transactions that had already been processed months earlier – as he had been receiving DStv transmission since December 2017 without any problems.
In fact, he said that it would be ridiculous for any bank to reverse transactions that had already been processed and used months earlier.
He queried the DStv statement saying that if his bank had reversed his subscription payments, which went as far back as December last year, then why had he still been receiving television transmission till only a few days ago.
The disgruntled customer further claimed that this incident was not the first act of unprofessionalism by DStv – in the six months that he has been a subscriber – as he was met with another bombshell in March this year.
He alleged that soon after making the transaction for the three months advance subscription payments, he received an SMS from DStv saying that he, in fact, owed them a substantial amount of money in unpaid subscriptions.
This left him dumbfounded, leading him to immediately call DStv, who then rectified the problem.
He, however, said that this incident raised the red flags in his mind, as he knew that he had made a huge mistake by subscribing to DStv, since he expected to face more problems – which he allegedly did.
He requested ZimJustice to investigate this issue and take appropriate legal and advocacy action against DStv and its parent company Multichoice.
ZimJuctice initially issued a request on social media for any DStv customers who believed that they had been defrauded by the company to come forward, so that the organization can compile a solid case.
The organization has so far received a significant amount of complaints from DStv customers, but still urges all those affected to contact ZimJustice for further legal and advocacy action to be taken.
The complaints received so far mainly centre around the same issue of the alleged DStv’s shoddy accounting and payment system – which they believe has defrauded a number of customers.
Therefore, the organization urges all DStv customers who believe that they have been aggrieved by the company’s accounting and payment system to contact ZimJustice immediately at the details below, so that a case may be built.
° The Zimbabwe Network for Social Justice (ZimJustice) is a network of lawyers and activists, who seek to promote social justice through offering pro bono legal assistance to all those who have been unfairly treated, and through advocacy campaigns. Please feel free to call/Whatsapp: +263782283975, or (calls ONLY): +263715667700, or email: zimjustice@gmail.com. Please also ‘Like’ the ‘ZimJustice’ page on Facebook.
