Does anybody use Computer Wholesalers SA? (guy called Etienne Pienaar)

U

Unhappy Camper

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Well they scammed me.

Bought some goods from them in July '16.


Waited weeks while a chick called "Charmaine" to me that "suppliers were out of stock".

Then the next thing they stop answering my emails & their telephone number gets disconnected.

I start to get worried.
So I left a post on Facebook.

Then I get an email from a guy called "Etienne PIenaar"

///////////////////////

Hi ********,


The truth is due to the current economic climate we have run into financial difficulties.
We are unable to refund you at this time.
We are working on solutions to our situation and hope to have things back on track soon.

I understand you have been waiting for some time now for your refund and we are doing our best to see what we cant do to sort this out for you

I am really sorry about this and sorry that it had to effect you.

Please advise if you want to cancel your account completely or use that money in there for package fees, courier and domains.

For now, should you want to place future orders, please ask Andre in
sales to give you supplier banking details, then when you order please
pay the supplier directly.

If you can please supply your banking details again so when there is money we can pay something.

This is really embarrassing and I cant say how sorry I am about this

Regards

Etienne

/////////////////////////



Wait WHAT?

First of all, I never asked for a refund.

Secondly, I didn't know anything was wrong until this guy mailed me.

He took my money & now it's magically gone?



Anyways, just a warning to people out there who think these guys are legit.
They're not (anymore)

You have been warned.




UC.
 
Sheesh - from taking orders to "financial difficulties" in one month...sounds like reckless trading.
 
Thank you OP! Your first post is a real public service to all of us here on MyBB since we're always looking at and buying things from online shops in SA. Good luck to you and hope that you get a full refund. :)
 
Exactly the same happened to me as well. Been a customer with them since 2010.

Placed an order in March and have been struggling ever since to get my money back. Even got lawyers involved without any luck.

They are still operating but all my enquiries gets redirected to Etienne and he is not replying to any of my emails and I am at the point of not knowing what to do anymore. Order was placed today 5 months ago.

On my last enquiry they even closed my account.

There must be something we can do to get our money back as i was advised that this is theft with false pretencis.

It was not a small order I placed and am now out quite a lot of money
 
Heinie_V said:
There must be something we can do to get our money back as i was advised that this is theft with false pretencis.

It was not a small order I placed and am now out quite a lot of money
Click to expand...

How much was the order for?

Small claims court might be an option if you want to recover R15k or less.
 
ponder said:
How much was the order for?

Small claims court might be an option if you want to recover R15k or less.
Click to expand...

Order was for R20 000.

Will go see a few people tomorrow as I do have 2 appointments with regards to this matter with people trying to help.

Will advise if I have any feedback
 
I am in the same boat! They have been 'processing' my refund since 12 July. No correspondence since. At least you received an email from Etienne, I have not. This is daylight robbery!!
 
Good day, sadly we placed an order with them more than 2 weeks ago just to find out they are crooks. They duck & dive, don't return emails no phone line anymore.... a guy called Andre was so rude to us over the phone...got his no from a courier company! I contacted the suppliers directly and some of them havent received orders from them for months now!

I received this email from Etienne this morning after i have sent a whole lot of emails to Charmaine, etc:

Hi

The truth is that we have run into cash-flow problems. We are doing our best to sort things out.
Clients wanting to place any orders from now will need to pay directly into the suppliers bank account then we can collect their orders on time.
As for your order we are doing our best to try collect it in the next few days.
Alternatively we can refund your money. You will need to send your banking details then we will make daily payments until the balance is paid.
In order to fix our problems we had to let Sonika and Andre go who finish yesterday.
I am so sorry that you got caught up in our problems.

Will do our best to see what we can do for you in the next few days

Regards
 
I opened a case of "theft under false pretences" at my local police station and spoke to the detective today who will be investigating this case.

I was asked to tell everybody that had the same experience as me to also please open a case with the SAPS.

If there is enough cases opened against CWSA this will be seen as a syndicate and investigated accordingly.
 
Guys, did some digging for you and I found out some details, have not tested any but you can give them a try. Email address for Etienne Pienaar who is the owner: [email protected], Numbers that I have come across: 0844318995, 0878057443, 0333868508 & 0828864019. Addresses (besides the 10 Aldergrove, Bonaero Park one): 215 Greyling Street, Pietermaritzburg & 120 Globe Road, Pietermaritzburg. Both addresses were taken from domain registrar info from domains that he owns.

Let me know if you come right
@Heinie_V
 
Heinie_V said:
I opened a case of "theft under false pretences" at my local police station and spoke to the detective today who will be investigating this case.

I was asked to tell everybody that had the same experience as me to also please open a case with the SAPS.

If there is enough cases opened against CWSA this will be seen as a syndicate and investigated accordingly.
Click to expand...

Check my post above
 
Theft cases

Heinie_V said:
I opened a case of "theft under false pretences" at my local police station and spoke to the detective today who will be investigating this case.

I was asked to tell everybody that had the same experience as me to also please open a case with the SAPS.

If there is enough cases opened against CWSA this will be seen as a syndicate and investigated accordingly.
Click to expand...


Has anything come of opening theft cases?
 
RiaanDP said:
Has anything come of opening theft cases?
Click to expand...

I met with the detective investigating my case on Monday. According to him they are still investigating .

If I understood correctly there are a few people that opened a case against CWSA (Etienne Pienaar) and that he filed for bankrupcy and business is now closed.

I think they are considering combining all the opened cases and handle this case as a organised crime.

He should just "pay back the money" owed to people and then everybody will have a happy ending, him included
 
Guys, I'm so glad I came across this

I've been using CWSA quite allot in 2015, found better suppliers of IT equipment and stopped buying from them, but I have since used their hosting service for my business emails and website.

Since about March or this year, all was well with hosting, but then the trouble started...my services went down for 4 weeks. No correspondence from CWSA, don't reply to emails, cell numbers are just dead, nothing! I couldn't even move my domain to another host because they failed to renew my domain with ZA Domains (even though I had paid). I got an email from Etienne (who later replied as Lionel, WTF?) who told me he was very sorry for the poor service and that they are doing all they can do correct their wrongs. Another 3 weeks passed and eventually my domain was back online. I immediately moved it another host, so that issues has been resolved. I still get "unpaid invoice notifications" from them for the services I don't use with them anymore, threatening me with penalty fees...pffft

Then, on 6 June I was stupid enough to put in another order with them on one of their HOT DEALS (home page). I immediately got an email with the quote, told me to pay, I paid, they said thanks for the payment...and I never heard of them again. Lionell/Etienne/I-dont-even-know sent me an email a month after the order telling me their system had crashed and that's why they haven't replied. He told me that they will process the order and promised delivery within the week. Another almost-3-weeks have passed and here we are today: no reply on any of my emails.

I've had it with them! I'm going to file a case against them. Whats the status of the cases already filed? I have my doubts if the SAPD will do anything for us who have lost thousands using and trusting these *******s at CWSA. What do you guys suggest?
 
I called FNB fraud department (as the account I paid into is an FNB account). They told me that we need to file a case with the SAPD along with supporting documentation and that they will send they account details to investigation department to flag as potential scammers. Once we got a case number, we must phone the FNB fraud line again and they will be able to assist. I want to plead then, if you got a case number, please give FNB fraud line a call and tell them your story along with the case number...this might be the only way to get our money back
 
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