Buy & Win Brand New Honda Car

A woman has claimed that she was cheated of nearly RM11,000 by a direct-selling company that used questionable marketing tactics to push customers to buy its products. The victim, who only wanted to be known as Nura, said the company promised she would be able to redeem rewards, which included RM150,000 cash or a brand-new Honda car, if she collected enough points from her purchases.

“So I kept buying to get more points. Most of these items were household appliances. I spent RM11,000 in just three months last year, but I got nothing out of it. I waited to see if they would give me a call, but they never did. I am not from a rich family. I have spent my money and did not get the rewards promised to me. Most of the items I bought are still untouched. I was cheated.”

Tired of waiting, Nura lodged a police report and a complaint with the domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism ministry. However, to her dismay, no action was taken. Instead, she was reproached for being careless and not paying attention to details. 

Another victim who spent RM25,000 in the hope of accumulating enough points also claimed that she was cheated by the same company. Like Nura, the woman who wanted to be known as Anida said she had spent a lot after being pushed by the company to keep buying to accumulate enough points to redeem the rewards. She said catalogues were sent to her house on a daily basis, and she was persuaded to buy all the items. Anida, however, was luckier than the other victims. She managed to get back half her money after she lodged a report with the ministry and consumer groups. 

I never thought that such a big company could go this far to cheat members of the public. I am sure there are many more victims as the company is still operating openly without any action being taken against it. I went to their headquarters with their products to demand my money back but I only managed to deal with the front-office staff,” Anida said.

She claimed that some of the items she bought were of inferior quality and that sometimes, she had not received what she ordered. I think they bought the items from another place and resold them at a higher price.

A former employee of the company who wished to remain anonymous said she had left after a few months as she was not happy with the way business was conducted. The company used aggressive and misleading marketing tactics to get people to buy more. Every day, we had to deal with complaints. Complaints were lodged with the ministry and Tribunal for Consumer Claims Malaysia. We had to deal with angry customers coming to the office to complain.

“Victims keep buying the products, thinking that they can be the next winner of RM150,000. When they do not win, they realise that they were cheated and try to get their money back. She said when dealing with complaints lodged with the ministry or tribunal, the company would try its best to limit its risks. She said the company would refund the buyers when they returned the products to avoid prolonging any cases.