Beware of phony Makro staff

Sometime ago (Jan. 22, 1997), a shop assistant at Makro in Pasar Rebo received a complaint from a cooperative in Bogor, West Java that it had been cheated by two persons claiming to belong to the "Makro company". Based on this complaint, the management of PT Karabha Unggul/Makro in Pasar Rebo visited the victim to get a detailed account of the incident.

The two persons, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 20s, arrived in a red Kijang van. The phony Makro assistants had their wares stacked in a Makro labeled trolley which was slightly smaller than those found in Makro. One box contained the following sales items: Super Mi noodles, toothpaste, bath soap, eucalyptus oil and rose water.

One package comprised seven boxes at a very reasonable price. The salespersons said they were doing a stock clearance. The total amount paid by the cooperative for the items it purchased came to Rp 2,300,000. The deceivers also offered electronic goods and Makro membership cards. They left right after the transaction was completed. When the cooperative began calculating the cost for the goods it bought, it was discovered that the purchase was worth only Rp 700,000.

The crooks stacked Super Mi, toothpaste and bath soap in the upper layer in the box, while underneath, there was mostly eucalyptus oil and rose water.

The cooperative said other cooperatives in the Bogor district were also cheated by these fake assistants of Makro, who used the same tactics.

Based on these incidents, the management of PT Karabha Unggul/Makro is appealing to the public, Makro members and customers to refuse the service of these phony Makro staff if they show up at a home or any cooperative.

Makro never conducts door-to-door sales of its merchandise or makes deliveries in any form. All sales activities are done in Makro's eight outlets: Pasar Rebo (East Jakarta), Sidoardjo (Surabaya), Kelapa Gading (North Jakarta), Meruya (West Jakarta), Soekarno-Hatta (Bandung), Ciputat (South Jakarta), Alam Sutera (Tangerang) and Kawasan 2100 Cibitung (Bekasi).

Makro Customer Recruitment Officers always carry ID cards featuring their photographs and an assignment letter. All membership fees are payable only at Makro cashiers. No Makro employee is allowed to receive payments in any form.

The management of PT Karabha Unggul/Makro hopes that with this open letter, there will be no more victims of the fake Makro employees.

BASUKI ISMAEL

Human Resources and Industrial Relations Manager

PT Karabha Unggul/Makro, Jakarta