You booked it. You paid for it. And on the day, it is not there — the flight is oversold, the hotel has "walked" you to another property, the car hire desk has no car in the category you paid for, or the couch that was "in stock" is not.
South African consumers usually accept a refund and treat the matter as closed. Section 47 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 says a refund is the first of three things you are owed.
Taking money you cannot honour
Section 47(2) starts before the failure, at the moment the supplier accepts your money:
"A supplier must not accept payment or other consideration for any goods or services if the supplier—(a) has no reasonable basis to assert an intention to supply those goods or provide those services; or (b) intends to supply goods or services that are materially different from the goods or services in respect of which the payment or consideration was accepted."
Two distinct wrongs sit in that sentence. Selling what you have no reasonable basis to think you can deliver is one. Taking payment for one thing while intending to supply something materially different is the other — the hotel room booked as a sea-view and allocated as a parking-lot view, the car booked as a class and substituted down.
Section 47(1) excludes two categories from the section: a franchise agreement, and a consumer agreement for the supply of special-order goods. Something built or ordered specifically for you sits outside these rules, which is why a custom kitchen is a different conversation from a sofa off a showroom floor.
The three things you are owed
Section 47(3) is the operative provision. Where a supplier makes a commitment or accepts a reservation and then does not supply, because of insufficient stock or capacity, the supplier must:
"(a) refund to the consumer the amount, if any, paid in respect of that commitment or reservation, together with interest at the prescribed rate from the date on which the amount was paid until the date of reimbursement; and (b) in addition, compensate the consumer for costs directly incidental to the supplier's breach of the contract, except to the extent that subsection (5) provides otherwise."
Three things, then:
1. The money back. The part everyone gets.
2. Interest at the prescribed rate, from the day you paid. Not from the day they cancelled, and not from the day you complained. From the date the amount was paid until the date of reimbursement. On a holiday booked and paid for eight months in advance, that is eight months of interest at the repo rate plus 3,5 percentage points.
3. Compensation for costs directly incidental to the breach. This is the one with real money in it, and it is the one suppliers never volunteer. The airport transfer you could not use. The non-refundable connecting booking. The cost of the alternative accommodation you had to find at short notice, over and above what you had already paid. The phone calls. "Directly incidental" is the limit — it does not extend to the disappointment of the ruined weekend — but it comfortably covers the out-of-pocket consequences of being left stranded.
The two defences, and how narrow they are
Section 47(4): a comparable alternative. The supplier has a defence where it offered the consumer comparable or superior alternative goods or services, and the consumer either accepted the offer or unreasonably refused it.
Both halves matter. The alternative must be comparable or superior — a downgrade with a partial refund is not a section 47(4) offer. And a refusal must be unreasonable, which a refusal usually is not where the alternative is materially worse, materially further away, or materially later.
Section 47(5): circumstances beyond the supplier's control. The compensation obligation falls away where the shortage of stock or capacity resulted from circumstances beyond the supplier's control, provided the supplier informed the consumer promptly.
Note two things. It is the compensation that falls away, not the refund with interest. And the supplier must have told you promptly — a defence that evaporates if you found out on arrival.
Then section 47(6) shuts the door most suppliers try to walk through:
a shortage is not beyond the supplier's control where it results from the supplier's failure to conduct routine business matters diligently
Overselling seats because that is the revenue model is not a circumstance beyond anyone's control. Nor is a booking system that was not reconciled, a stock file that was not updated, or a double allocation nobody checked. The same anti-excuse drafting appears in section 62(3) for lay-by agreements, and it means the same thing in both places: ordinary business failure is not an act of God.
Where this bites in practice
Flights. South Africa has no fixed statutory compensation schedule for denied boarding of the kind European travellers know. The CPA is the route instead, and it is framed as actual loss rather than a tariff — which means keeping the receipts matters more here than it would elsewhere.
Hotels. Being "walked" to another property is the classic section 47 case. If the substitute is genuinely comparable or superior and you accept it, section 47(4) is satisfied. If it is further out, lower grade, or offered at your own cost, it is not.
Car hire. A downgrade with a small refund is not a comparable alternative. Ask for the class you paid for or for section 47(3) in full.
Retail stock. "In stock" on a website, payment taken, then a call two days later saying the item is unavailable. Section 47(2)(a) speaks to whether the supplier had a reasonable basis to assert an intention to supply at the moment it took your money.
Events. An oversold venue engages the same provision, subject to whatever the ticket terms say — and terms cannot contract out of the Act.
What to do
Do not accept the refund as a settlement. Accepting money "in full and final settlement" can end the claim. If you are asked to sign or to click something to that effect, say in writing that you accept the refund of the capital and reserve your claims under section 47(3)(a) and (b).
Ask for all three, by name. The capital, the interest at the prescribed rate from the date of payment, and compensation for costs directly incidental to the breach. Suppliers that would never volunteer the second and third will often pay them when asked precisely.
Keep the receipts that day. Compensation under 47(3)(b) is proved with documents. The taxi, the extra night, the meal you would not otherwise have bought — photograph the slips before they fade.
If they plead circumstances beyond their control, ask two questions in writing: what the circumstance was, and when you were informed. Section 47(5) requires prompt notification, and section 47(6) excludes ordinary operational failure.
Escalate. The National Consumer Commission or a provincial consumer affairs office handles these. Where an industry ombud scheme covers the supplier, that is usually the faster route.
The airline oversold my flight and refunded me. Is that enough?
Section 47(3) requires the refund with interest at the prescribed rate from the date you paid, and in addition compensation for costs directly incidental to the breach. A bare refund is one of three entitlements.
The hotel moved me to another hotel. Do I have a claim?
Not if the alternative was comparable or superior and you accepted it, or unreasonably refused it — that is the section 47(4) defence. If it was materially worse, further away, or at your own cost, the defence does not apply.
They say it was beyond their control.
Then ask when you were informed, because section 47(5) requires prompt notification, and ask what the circumstance was, because section 47(6) says a shortage is not beyond the supplier's control where it results from a failure to conduct routine business matters diligently.
What counts as "costs directly incidental"?
Out-of-pocket costs caused by the breach — replacement accommodation above what you had paid, transfers you could not use, a connecting booking lost. It does not extend to general disappointment.
Does this apply to something I had made to order?
No. Section 47(1)(b) excludes a consumer agreement for the supply of special-order goods.
I paid a deposit only. What am I owed?
The refund obligation is of "the amount, if any, paid in respect of that commitment or reservation" — so the deposit, with interest — plus the compensation in (b). The size of what you paid does not limit the incidental costs you can claim.
They want me to sign something before refunding.
Read it. If it purports to be in full and final settlement, accept the capital in writing while expressly reserving your claims under section 47(3)(a) and (b).
Shephard Dube is a co-founder of Rateweb. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and works as an entrepreneur and academic. He reviews Rateweb's credit and regulatory coverage — the Nat... This article is general information, not personalised financial advice.
