Blogger fights R461,500 timeshare ‘defamation’ lawsuit

Pretoria – A South African blogger has been hit with a R461,500 defamation case after he blogged about his experiences with a timeshare company. “They phoned to say we’d won a car, and when we got there we discovered we had been lured to a timeshare sales pitch under false pretences. This happens to dozens of people every day, and now that their secret is out on the web they’re trying to bully me into keeping quiet about it,” he said.

The author of the “Insights and Rants” blog has called on fellow bloggers and the public for help in fighting the case brought by the Quality Vacation Club, a timeshare company in Pretoria.

‘So far the lawyers have run up costs of R 55, 000 against me, which they expect me to pay’, says Donn Edwards, the defendant. ‘They insist I spend more money hiring Attorneys who in turn have to hire an Advocate because this is a High Court (aka Supreme Court) matter. They effectively want to punish me financially even if they lose the case. That’s not to mention all the time wasted dealing with legal documents and worrying about the case. It’s affecting my ability to earn a living, and my ability to focus on my job.

‘I have decided to defend the case myself, so I’m appealing for information: anyone1 who has been phoned and told they have “won a prize” and was invited to a “prizegiving” that turned out to be a QVC timeshare presentation is urged to support the case by sending me an affidavit, describing what happened, good or bad, and whether they witnessed anyone being presented with one of the advertised prizes. The pro-forma document for the affidavit can be downloaded from my web site, and once the document has been signed it can be faxed or emailed to me.

‘I am alleged to have made untrue and misleading statements about QVC as a result of my own experiences with the organisation, and I stand accused of conducting a “campaign of defamation” against them, which is nonsense.

‘It is outrageous that a company of this size should think they can get away with sending me a summons out of the blue without even the courtesy of attempting to solve the matter out of court. They are on record as stating that they consider a court case their only course of action, which I strenuously reject. All attempts to settle the matter out of court have been rebuffed by the lawyers, who won’t even return my phone calls.

1  This request is not open to QVC employees or their dependants.

‘The case is fundamentally unfair on a number of levels, and I wonder what they hope to achieve by it. They are suing me for several years’ earnings before tax because of the alleged loss of potential sales, and because 15 existing QVC members have not paid their Management fees, supposedly as a result of statements I made on my blog. It would be bizarre if it wasn’t so serious.’

‘If big companies are allowed to get away with this kind of harassment and intimidation, then all bloggers are at risk every time they express any form of criticism that any trigger-happy corporate doesn’t like.’
The primary focus of the blog has been technology, and the most popular articles all relate to “The Great Defrag Shootout” which reviews most known defrag programs for Windows users. Beginning last year Donn wrote a series of entries about his encounter with QVC, the company responsible for calling his wife to say they had “won” a car and were being invited to a “prizegiving presentation” to collect their prize.

‘I left the sales presentation (on Tuesday 4th  September 2007) frustrated and upset about being lured there under false pretences, and naturally we left without any prize at all. Neither did I witness anyone else winning any of the prizes promised, nor were the prizes on display.

I subsequently discovered that there was no “Win-A-Car Competition” when I asked to see a copy of my entry form. The call centre admitted that they had just phoned me from a list of numbers. I instructed them and QVC to place my number on their Do Not Call list, which they agreed to do. In spite of this I was called again six weeks later by another operator, who once again told me about the “prize giving presentation”.
I complained to Mr John Meyer, the Chairman of the QVC Management Association, and numerous emails and phone calls ensued. He initially offered a meeting but by November 2007 he was unavailable for a meeting. He promised to review the marketing methods used by “the developer”, whom he declined to name.

In May this year I was contacted by “Prestige Business Solutions”, again with a similar story about having won a prize. I did a Google search while on the caller was still on the line, and the HelloPeter.com web site indicated that other people has been called, and that it was a timeshare sales tactic. I wrote about it again, and complained to QVC on the HelloPeter site. Again Mr Meyer declined a meeting, this time in July 2008. I heard nothing further from QVC until late October 2008 when they launched a High Court application, accusing me of a “campaign of defamation” being conducted on my blog.’

Over 250 comments have been added by blog readers. Clearly this blogger is not the only person outraged by the false promises made by timeshare “competition” call centres to members of the public. ‘I appeal to fellow bloggers and the public to help me put an end to this odious practice once and for all. The details on how to help can be found on my blog,’ he said.

Blog address: http://donnedwards.openaccess.co.za

Court documents (for members of the media) http://www.openaccess.co.za/docs/

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