Complaints & Dispute Resolution Policy

This policy explains how to complain, what we do with a complaint, how long we take, and where you can go if we do not resolve it. It applies to buyers and to vendors, and it covers complaints about an order, a product, a delivery, a refund, a payout, a listing, or our own conduct.

Using this policy is not a precondition to exercising any other right. You may approach a regulator or a court at any time, and nothing in this policy limits a right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 ("CPA") or any other law.

1. How to complain

Open a request through support, which keeps your complaint and our replies in one thread attached to your account. You can also email support@plugafrika.com, or call our office on 087 151 4442.

Tell us, as far as you can:

• your order number, if the complaint is about an order;
• what happened, and when;
• what you have already tried;
• what outcome you are asking for; and
• photographs, where the complaint is about the condition of an item.

2. The stages

Stage one, support. An agent takes the complaint, looks at the order, payment and delivery record, and answers you on the same thread. Most complaints end here.

Stage two, a formal dispute. Where a complaint is about an order and is not resolved at stage one, it is raised as a dispute on that order. A dispute is logged against the order, the vendor is asked to respond, and the evidence from both sides is recorded. You can open a dispute yourself from the order page under My orders.

Stage three, a decision. A dispute is decided by a plugafrika agent or administrator, not by the vendor and not by you. Where the decision is that a refund is owed, the agent issues it and records who is at fault, because fault decides whether the vendor carries the cost. Neither a buyer nor a vendor can assert fault about themselves.

Stage four, review. If you disagree with the decision, say so on the same thread and ask for a review. A different person looks at it. This is the last stage inside plugafrika.

3. How long we take

These are the timeframes we commit to, counted in business days:

• Acknowledgement: within 1 business day of receiving your complaint, so you know it reached a person.
• Resolution: within 10 business days. If a complaint needs longer, for example because a courier investigation or a return collection has to finish first, we tell you before the tenth day why it is taking longer and what we are waiting for.
• Review: within 5 business days of you asking for one.
• Refunds: released once the decision is made and, where goods are coming back, once they have been received and inspected. Timing after that depends on your bank.

Where the law sets a shorter or longer period for a specific right, the law applies rather than this clause. The cooling-off refund under section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002, for example, must be made within 30 days of cancellation.

4. What we will not do

• We do not close a complaint because you disagreed with the answer. A complaint stays open until it is resolved, withdrawn, or you have been told it has reached the end of stage four.
• We do not charge you for making a complaint, at any stage.
• We do not penalise a buyer or a vendor for having complained. Retaliation by a vendor against a buyer who complained, or the reverse, is itself a breach of our Terms of Use.

5. Complaints about personal information

A complaint about how we handled your personal information goes to our Information Officer rather than through support, and from there to the Information Regulator if you are not satisfied. Both routes are set out in our Privacy Policy.

6. If we do not resolve it

You may take a consumer complaint to any of the following:

• The National Consumer Commission, which handles complaints under the CPA.
• A consumer court or an accredited consumer goods ombud, where the matter falls within its jurisdiction.
• Your bank or card issuer, where the complaint is about a payment you did not authorise. Tell us as well, so that we can hold the order and the payout while it is investigated.
• A court of competent jurisdiction, including the small claims court for smaller amounts.

We will give you the record of your complaint, including what was decided and why, so that you can take it further.

7. Vendor complaints

Vendors complain through the same route, and about the same things, including a payout, a deduction, a fee, a dispute outcome or a listing decision. Where a complaint is about money held back from a payout, we tell the vendor which deduction and which order it relates to. The vendor terms that govern this are in our Vendor Terms.

8. Records

We keep the complaint, the evidence and the decision for 3 years after the matter closes, which is set out with our other retention periods in the Privacy Policy.

9. Who we are

plugafrika is operated by PlugAfrika (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/692478/97. Our registered address and contact details are on the Company information page.