Pretoria - Multichoice, the pay TV company that last year used an inertia marketing campaign to offer subscribers in its shareholder companies a decoder care contract, was only expected to complete the process of refunding all subscribers who did not want the contract within the next three weeks, Andre van Tonder, Multichoice's national credit manager, said last week.
Van Tonder previously anticipated the repayment of subscribers would be completed by the end of last month.
The refunds follow Multichoice backtracking on the inertia marketing campaign that offered certain subscribers the decoder care contract after complaints from subscribers and informal discussions between the Consumer Affairs Committee at the trade and industry department, which was established by the Consumer Affairs (Unfair Business Practices) Act.
The Consumer Affairs Committee last year launched a general investigation with a view "to prohibit or outlaw" inertia marketing because it regarded it as a totally unacceptable and unethical practice.
Inertia marketing occurs when a company offers goods or services to clients and automatically charges clients for the goods or services, unless a client specifically refuses the offer.
Van Tonder said the cancellation of the contract and repayment of 434 subscribers had already been processed.
Of these, 298 refunds with a letter explaining the reason for the refund had been sent to subscribers, he added.
But Van Tonder said the processing of the refunds for a further 688 subscribers had not yet been completed.
He said he had given instructions for additional staff to be allocated to processing the refunds.