East Coast Radio - Catch Up ECR Consumerwatch

ECR Consumerwatch

Wendy Knowler is arguably South Africa’s most experienced consumer journalist. She’s helped more consumers over her 20 year career in consumer journalism than she could count. But while known as a champion of consumer rights, Wendy is also known and respected by corporates for her fair, accurate and balanced reporting. Want to be a more sussed consumer or corporate? Listen to Wendy's episodes here.
Weekly English South Africa Leisure · Business
239 Episodes
160 – 180

Plastic is not so fantastic on a cupcake

There’s no gentle way to say this, cake lovers - that shimmering, glamorous, brightly coloured glitter has no place on cake icing - it’s plastic and shouldn’t be eaten.
12 Jul 2018 9 min

Durban tenant’s light bulb moment

So why would a tenant ask the rental agency to send a maintenance person round to change her lightbulb? Surely she should have expected to pay a call-out fee if she got someone in to do that for her?
28 Jun 2018 8 min

Wake me up before you Viagogo

If you go into a search engine and type “Sharks vs Lions game, June 30” or “Disney on Ice, ICC” rather than going to a specific site such as Computicket or Ticketpro, the top result you’re likely to get is Viagogo.
31 May 2018 9 min

Do you really know where that invoice has come from?

In case you missed last month’s show and because you really can’t afford to know about this newish scam, we’re returning to the issue of the havoc fraudsters are causing by hacking into company’s emails and changing the banking details to their own,Colette Baris wrote to Consumerwatch last week to…
24 May 2018 5 min

Is a “no refund” policy on deposits legal?

Wendy Knowler tackles service providers such as wedding photographers, caterers etc that require a non-refundable deposit up front. Is this allowed? What happens if you need to make a cancellation?
17 May 2018 9 min

Oh boy! Wendy tackles the latest processed cheese problem

Given what we now know about how the Listeriosis outbreak happened, South Africans are understandably a little jittery about processed food and the conditions under which it's produced. You’d think that food producers would currently be taking complaints about food quality more seriously than usual. Sadly, that wasn’t the experience…
10 May 2018 6 min

Wendy Knowler’s lowdown on lay-by

Lay-by is a consumer-friendly way to buy items should you not have enough cash to buy outright. Wendy Knowler chats to a consumer who was denied his deposit when wanting to retract his lay-by deal.
19 Apr 2018 5 min

ECR Consumerwatch: Troubles at Telkom

Have you ever been billed even after you’ve cancelled your Telkom account? What do you do when you order a phone and when it arrives it’s not the phone you ordered? Wendy Knowler answers all of the questions and more in today's ECR Consumerwatch.
12 Apr 2018 7 min

#MoneyMatters with Wendy

Wendy talks money matters and VAT increases. It might be wise to take a listen to this.
29 Mar 2018 8 min

The latest on the listeriosis crisis (22 March)

As the listeriosis crisis continues to grip the nation, and more products are being withdrawn from sale, many people have become really paranoid about what they can and can’t eat. And understandably - we are in the throes of what is, after all, the world’s biggest listeriosis outbreak. The latest…
22 Mar 2018 11 min

The secret’s out - this weight-loss product is illegal

It's International Consumer Rights Day, and this year’s theme is making the digital marketplace fairer for consumers. There’s a particular product, a weight-loss product being sold online in South Africa, that’s huge cause for concern for the medical community right now. More with Consumerwatch's Wendy Knowler here.
15 Mar 2018 8 min

Listeriosis crisis: Wendy speaks to a survivor

This time last week, millions of South Africans were buying and consuming polony and other ready-to-eat cold meats as usual. All that changed on Sunday with the Health Minister’s announcement that the outbreak source was an Enterprise factory. Consumerwatch speaks to someone who got listeriosis and almost didn’t survive it.
8 Mar 2018 13 min

Store club fees - time to opt out?

Do you know how much you're spending on membership fees for a store account? Are you benefitting at all from the payment? Consumerwatch's Wendy Knowler chats to a Toti resident who has had an account for about 20 years.
1 Mar 2018 7 min

How to avoid appliance repair rip-offs

Getting an appliance repaired is a leap of faith. In today's Consumerwatch - Wendy Knowler investigates a case of a Durban couple who sent their freezer in for repairs and the repairers didn't use the right parts they were charging for.
22 Feb 2018 6 min

The listeriosis crisis goes from bad to worse

New listeriosis figures released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases late yesterday paint an even grimmer picture of South Africa’s listeriosis crisis. More with Consumerwatch's Wendy Knowler.
15 Feb 2018 8 min

How to spot, tackle an unauthorised debit order

With many consumers agreeing to deals over the phone, the recording of that call serves as the proof or “mandate” should the consumer dispute a debit order on their account. In today;s Consumerwatch, Wendy Knowler talks about identifying and disputing an unauthorised debit order…
1 Feb 2018 9 min
160 – 180