Given that we are essentially a set of numbers to the corporate world – ID number, cellphone number, bank account number – if the wrong numbers somehow get mistakenly attached to you, bad things tend to happen.
Ask Edgars account holder of more than 25 years Vijay Ramsamujh.
He started getting harshly worded SMSes from Edgars’s debt collector, VVM, informing him that his account had been handed over and demanding payment, which infuriated him because his account has never been in arrears.
He received an apology from Edcon in mid-August after he vehemently objected to the unjustified demands, but on August 26, he received yet another SMS from the attorneys, threatening legal action if he failed to pay up.
He noted that the account number mentioned in that SMS was not his, but says he had no success in his attempts to contact VVM.
That’s when he wrote to Consumer Watch.
“What are my rights, and what steps should I take now?” he asked.
I took up the case with Edcon, noting that in its letter of apology to Ramsamujh, there was no attempt to explain how he had come to be mistakenly accused of non-payment.
“Clearly, for someone who prides themselves on conducting their financial affairs responsibly, receiving such an SMS is perceived as a massive insult and serves to completely rupture their connection to the company, as evidenced by his stated intention to close his account,” I wrote.
“ ‘Sorry for the inconvenience caused’ doesn’t quite cover it.”
And why did VVM send Ramsamujh another SMS, after Edgars had apologised to him?
Edcon Financial Services responded by saying that its investigation had revealed that its “external debt collector”, VVM, was actually trying to trace a Miss Mthethwa using information from a credit bureau, but the cellphone number provided was that of Ramsamujh.
“The SMS sent by VVM was intended for Miss Mthethwa, not Mr Ramsamujh.
“When Mr Ramsamujh raised this query with Edcon, Edcon instructed VVM to remove his contact number from their files, but unfortunately this was not actioned by VVM, which resulted in a second SMS being sent out to Mr Ramsamujh after Edcon had issued an apology letter.”
It was then that Edcon apparently asked for Ramsamujh’s cellphone number to be removed from Mthethwa’s credit bureau profile as well as from VVM’s files.
And here’s the sobering bit.
“It is not unusual for credit bureaux to have outdated information, such as recycled phone numbers, attributed to consumer records and as a result, this sort of issue can occur,” Edcon said.
“This also highlights the value of consumers periodically requesting their credit bureaux information from the various providers and confirming the accuracy of the information provided.”
That’s great general advice, but it wouldn’t have helped Ramsamujh, of course, because how would he have known that his cellphone number was still listed under Mthethwa’s profile?
Given that many people drop their pre-paid cellphone numbers to escape being tracked down by people and companies to whom they owe money, the chances of someone acquiring a whole lot of trouble along with a new cellphone number are quite good.
Incidentally, you can also get nailed for money payable by someone else if you inherit their old bank account number.
Many people close their bank accounts to prevent debit orders from being processed against them.
A few years ago, as reported in this column, there was an outcry when timeshare company RCI debited quite a few people’s bank accounts for membership fees, in error.
An investigation revealed that because Standard Bank re-allocates bank account numbers, quite a few people had unwittingly inherited bank account numbers which once belonged to RCI members and when it came time for the company’s annual membership fee deduction, quite a few non-RCI members were suddenly R461 poorer.
So if you have fairly recently acquired a new bank account number or cellphone number, and you start getting demands for payments you know nothing about, or spot an unauthorised debit order, start asking questions about who had that number before you.