Don’t sign a contract without a spare key or service book

I keep warning car buyers about this, but the cases keep coming.  

Louisa wrote: “I bought a second-hand 2024 model car in November… it didn’t have a spare key, manual or service book but they promised to give it to me during the coming week…” That never happened, and a lot of other things went wrong with the car. Please do not proceed with a used car deal unless (and until) the spare key, manual and service book are produced. Promises to get them to you later seldom materialise. 

Besides, with all that important stuff missing, you should be very worried about the general state of the car.

2. Which is better - plastic or wooden chopping boards?

According to the Irish author of Sustenance, Adam James Pollock, definitely wooden. Apart from its aesthetic value, he says, wood has natural antimicrobial properties, meaning bacteria get absorbed and die. 

“This has been lab-tested in comparison to plastic chopping boards multiple times in recent decades,” Pollock said. “Studies show that while bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria on plastic boards actually multiply overnight, on wooden boards the bacteria are absorbed completely within three to 10 minutes”.

Plus, wooden boards are kinder to your knives.

3. To keep the box, or not?

That’s a question I get asked often, most recently by Francois. 

“If one needs to return defective goods, why do they always want it in the packaging it came in?” he asked. “Can they refuse a return on this basis?” 

No, not if you are returning the defective product within six months of purchase. Your Consumer Protection Act right to return a defective product for your choice of repair, replacement or refund within six months stands, regardless of whether you can produce its packaging or not. 

It's best you keep the box anyway, because if the product breaks after six months, the manufacturer gets to call the shots with regard to its own - voluntary - warranty, and they almost always insist on that box.

4.  Do you have an “Exit File”?

We avoid thinking, much less talking, about death, but that would be a gift to your loved ones upon your death, making the necessary admin far easier for them as they grieve. In that file, put your will, a copy of your marriage contract and ID, medical aid details, who to contact at your company, your policy documents, broker details, pension fund documents, details of all your contracts, car registration documents… You get the idea.

In other words, all they will need to navigate the red tape they will inevitably be saddled with. 

5. Can you demand that a retailer sell you something marked at a ridiculously low price?

We all love the thrill of chancing upon something we want selling for way less than it normally does, don’t we? It happened to Catherine in her local butchery recently.

“I was looking for a piece of rump steak and came across one about the size of my hand, marked at just R2.65,” she said. “The usual price is about R85.

“But when I got to the till, they would not allow me to purchase it. Surely, it’s my consumer right?" Actually, no, it’s not. That butcher was not legally obliged to sell her that steak for just R2.65, because the Consumer Protection Act gives retailers an “out” when it comes to honouring prices which are an “obvious mistake”, as in this case.

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