Here’s a post I wrote on December 18 2009, and which was the subject of a take-down notice from the ISPA in South Africa on 27th November 2017 (see http://6000.co.za/take-down-notice). The ISPA wields an extraordinary amount of power when it comes to these kinds of things, but their arms only extend as far as the borders of South Africa. Thus, in the interests of protecting others in South Africa from being scammed, and as something of a minor stand for honest, free speech, I have moved this post onto several different sites outside the borders of the republic. Herewith a full copy of the post in question. Anything in red has been added for clarification at the time of publication (27 Nov 2017).
PENINSULAR REMOVAL SERVICES To cut a long story short (cue sighs of relief from both of my readers), I got a letter from a debt collection agency in the village of Port Elizabeth today. Not at home, but at work. And why? Because I had, back in January 2008, rung the aforementioned Peninsular Removal Services (hereinafter known as “PRS”) to give me a quote on a… er… removal job.
They never came and saw us, they did a quote over the phone (#fail) and they were hideously expensive (as far as I can remember), so we went with someone else. And that was the last we ever heard of them until today, when I got a threatening letter from some heavies in PE, ordering me to cough up the required amount of R660.81 or face the wrath of someone called Dennis. Or some such stuff.
To be honest, at that point I had no idea I had ever dealt with anyone called PRS, so I googled them and came to [the now defunct] peninsularremovalservices.com
And on the front page of that site, a story which begins:
We were moving within Cape Town so phoned around for moving quotes. Some companies gave us quotes on the phone – some came out and quoted. Peninsula Removal Services did not come out – they just quoted over the phone. Hmm – sounds familiar. As does the rest of the story – except they went after him for R52,780!
PRS are still advertising in the Yellow Pages:
…but I wouldn’t advise getting in touch, because if my story (and those of many others) is anything to go by they will secretly and belatedly charge you for the (questionable) privilege.
The website owner states:
It was at this stage that I thought I would spend 20 minutes throwing together a quick site to let other potential users of Paul’s company know what they may be letting themselves in for.
However, he has only had 201 hits in 11 months. I get that in about 11 minutes, so I thought I would help out by publicising his (and now, my) cause a little further. So please – don’t let others fall into this trap – tell people about this post, use the retweet button to retweet it and let’s make as many people as possible aware that Peninsular Removal Services may well try to rip you off. Even if all you do is give them a call.
Consider yourselves informed.
UPDATE: I called the collection agency in PE and explained the situation. They were initially unhelpful (still wanted their cut of the money, I guess), but then when I told them about all the evidence I had amassed from teh interwebs, they quickly changed their tune and gave in. A couple of weeks later, I received a letter confirming that I owed R0.00 in respect of this account. Game over, Mr Paul de Kwaadsteniet. You lose.
COMMENTS ON THE ORIGINAL POST:
Nina Please I need help this crook had stolen all my stuff I sadly used him to move my goods to storage ...... He is trying to claim a extra R7000 over moving costs to move to storage , plus R2000 a day in mean time I can't find him or where my stuff is when he never arrived at storage unit , the bill has jumped from around R8000 to R40000 ( in under a week ) and he has all my stuff and puts phone down when I ask where the premises are I want my goods , I'm being blackmailed and worst if I pay I doubt I would ever see my goods anyway , please someone help me
Louis Fourie Anybody out there who can help me with this? Recently also received a call from this Paul, who after getting my name, abruptly put the phone down. The next day I received an sms from a credit company CreditIntel stating I owe Peninsula Removers R26,000 . When I asked for the invoices I received faked copies written out 4 days ago listing an address of a property I owned in 2002! I never even lived there as I rented the house to a friend recently deceased. Having done some further research it seems that the same credit company has been in cahoots with this company as the same person that mailed me the invoices, demanding payment as well as an affidavit, has been doing the same to other - her name Sophia Redelinghuys - see this link below http://www.peninsularemoval... where she is harassing another unsuspecting client. Any ideas out there of what to do?? Is this not a criminal offence to make out fake invoices??
Riaan Olivier Hi, I nearly got caught by this person as well.Again no written quote only over the phone!When we told him we won`t need his services he said he will sens invoice! Can you believe the audacity of this man.Steer clear of peninsula Removal Service people! He will rip you off. Riaan Olivier
