Council highlights consumer complaints

THE Consumer Council of Fiji has received more than 170 complaints relating to some construction/joinery companies in the past three years.

In a media release the council chief executive officer Seema Shandil said some of the concerns and complaints received were related to consumers being given a run-around by construction/joinery companies despite having entered into contracts.

Ms Shandil said consumers were faced with unwarranted delays in the completion of the houses/ projects, shoddy workmanship, over-charging, use of wrong material and in worse cases, disappearing with down payments – a common reoccurrence.

According to the council in one such case, an elderly consumer paid an initial deposit of $30,000 to a trader for building a new house however the construction company halted their operations without fulfilling their obligation - they only laid the foundation of the house.

A second case involved a consumer who paid a trader $5000 to install a kitchen cabinet however once the consumer paid the agreed sum, the representative of the joinery company disappeared.

“A pressing concern reflected in these complaints relate to total disregard of ‘commitment and professionalism’ among some construction companies and individual tradesmen. They do not value ‘time’ and the ‘work schedule’, the two parties agreed upon. A number of them do not keep their words and they fail to honour their obligations as a service provider by not meeting the deadline for the completion of the work,” said Ms Shandil.

The council called on contractors/joiners to bring about good ethics and principles in their work and deliver as promised and urged consumers to contact the council on their toll-free line 155 or the Consumer Council of Fiji mobile app if they were facing similar issues.