HeyJaredConsumer Hacks with Wendy Knowler
Know your rights as a consumer. ECR’s Consumer Watchdog, Wendy Knowler, is giving us daily consumer tips to help empower you as a consumer. Here are the latest Consumer Hacks with Wendy Knowler.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 42
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 13, 2026
Latest episodes
Never say "yes, that's my debt" (opens the original)
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A debt collector phones about an old account you'd forgotten. Before you say a word, work out when you last paid anything on it, or when you last admitted it was yours. If that's more than three years ago, and nobody ever served you with a summons, the debt has probably prescribed. Credit cards, personal loans, clothing accounts, cellphone contracts - Section 126B of the National Credit Act makes it illegal to collect those debts, sell them or reactivate them. But there’s a catch: The moment you
Check the name on the ticket. Every letter (opens the original)
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Brett of Durbanville watched his son be refused boarding at check-in because his surname had been left off his ticket. The travel agency couldn't fix it there and then. Their only option was to buy a new ticket, which meant paying for four more legs at double the original cost. The replacement tickets came to R47 566,80. Three weeks later he got R23 304 back of the original R29 604, after the agency and the airline had each taken their cut. The airline told him this happens all the time. So, the
That “diagnostic fee” has to be flagged first (opens the original)
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Kyle of KZN handed in his drone for a quote. He heard nothing for over a week, then discovered it had already been shipped off to a third party for repair. When the invoice came and he said no thanks, he was told he owed them a diagnostic fee. Nobody had mentioned a fee when he handed the drone over. The Consumer Protection Act is clear. A repairer can't charge you for assessing your goods, or for a quote you turn down, unless they disclosed that fee before you handed over your possession and yo
The price on the shelf is the price you pay (opens the original)
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Some shops add a fee when you pay by card, or refuse card payments under a certain amount, such as R50. The National Consumer Commission is warning traders, spaza shops in particular, that both are unlawful. Section 23(6) of the Consumer Protection Act says a supplier may not require you to pay a price higher than the displayed price. And the merchant agreement retailers sign with the bank that supplies their card machine prohibits it too. So if you're told "it's for the machine", say no. Pay th
Too small to fight is not a thing (opens the original)
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When a company owes you a few hundred rand and simply stops replying, most people give up. That's what they are banking on. A Cape Town doctor who lost R680 on an undelivered food order went to the National Consumer Commission and was told her amount was too small. It isn't too small for the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, which handles retail and services complaints, costs you nothing and can be reached at cgso.org.za. For a bank or an insurer it's the National Financial Ombud, and for a car
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