‘We are not scammers,’ says Precious Celebrations

Celebrity party and event planner, Precious Thamaga-Mazibuko has denied any claims alleging she is a scammer.

There has been a social media firestorm alleging the planner and founder of Precious Celebrations known to organise events for celebrities such as Bonang Matheba was not meeting her promises to other clients.

It was alleged by a client, Tumi Machaba that when she was planning for her birthday party since January, they chose Precious Celebrations to plan the event.  The company sent her a quotation, her mother paid R100,000 which included the quotation fee and for the party.

Tumi says they were supposed to meet with Precious on 23 March but this did not materialise as she informed them that she was in contact with someone who had contracted Covid-19.

She then alleges that Precious never contacted them afterwards, as Covid-19 worsened they decided to cancel their plans, they were informed that the cancellation fee was 75%.

Feeling like they being ripped off, Tumi’s mother then contacted lawyers to take the matter forward, with this action Precious refunded them R25,000, the thread on Twitter went viral with others sharing their experiences with the event planner.

https://twitter.com/queen_reigh/status/1277216634646790144

Precious Celebrations responded in a statement saying they were informed on 28 June of the incident regarding Tumi Machaba on social media.

“We have been advised by our attorneys to refrain from discussing our client’s affairs through social media, safe to state that we stand by the principle that we have not scammed or attempted to scam any person, especially the Machaba family.”

The event company confirmed that they did receive a legal letter on 20 April, from attorneys representing the Machaba family, the letter informed Precious to refrain from discussing the matter with their client and that they will be instituting legal proceedings against Precious Celebrations.

“In light of this, Precious, Precious Celebrations (including all staff and/or service providers/suppliers) made no further attempts at contacting the Machaba family,” the statement read.

They said it was concerning their efforts to have the matter resolve amicably has resulted in them being labelled scammers. Adding that they have proposed credit of use for the Machaba family for a valid date for a period of one year to show their ‘transparency’ and ‘integrity’.

The company said they have noted the criticism they received on social media and will take it as an opportunity to learn and improve their services.

(Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.