‘Mystery shoppers’ go after retailers cashing in on VAT
dubai — Erring retailers beware! ‘Mystery shoppers’ are on the prowl across the UAE to make sure that businesses here are not ripping off their customers in a bid to pocket more cash. The move comes following the implementation of countrywide Value-Added Tax (VAT) earlier this month.
Since January 1, Ahmad Alzaabi, acting director at the Department of Economic Development’s consumer protection department, told Khaleej Times that around 700 complaints have been filed by consumers. As a result, he said the deployment of these ‘mystery shoppers’ will help curb this trend. “We want to protect the consumers by closely monitoring the compliance of retailers and companies that are collecting VAT for the government,” Alzaabi said on Wednesday.
On Monday, the DED registered 71 consumer complaints, summoned 20 officials of establishments against whom the complaints were filed, and booked nine commercial establishments for unjustified price increase.
dubai — Mystery shoppers have been deployed by Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (DED) to report on business establishments that violate the prescribed 5 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services, a senior DED official said.
“We want to protect consumers by closely monitoring the compliance of retailers and companies that are collecting VAT for the government,” Ahmad Al Zaabi, acting director a DED’s consumer protection department, told Khaleej Times on Wednesday.
“The DED has a special team composed of regular DED staff who check the invoice and VAT implementation and mystery shoppers who monitor the prices anonymously. They (mystery shoppers) pose as regular customers and closely check the prices and invoices, then report any irregularities,” Alzaabi said.
“Many of our staff work overtime every day and our mystery shoppers are very diligent in reporting violations,” he added.
On Monday, the DED registered 71 consumer complaints, summoned 20 officials of establishments against whom the complaints were filed and booked nine commercial establishments for unjustified price increases.
Al Zaabi said erring business establishments are handed fines and asked to return the overcharged amount. In extreme cases, the companies can face closure, should they continue to charge a higher VAT or impose illegal price hikes under the guise of VAT.
In the past 10 days, since the implementation of VAT on January 1, Al Zaabi said his department has received an average of 70 complaints daily — some are transactional anomalies on VAT collection and others on abnormal price hikes.
According to Al Zaabi, it would take a maximum of four days to resolve each case, including the investigation. “Many have been resolved and the consumers got their money back,” Alzaabi noted. “But we will still continue to monitor these erring retail stores and companies to ensure consumer protection.”
The DED is boosting its consumer protection awareness campaign. “We’ve actually started our education in the last quarter of 2017 and have campaigns for both the consumers and retailers,” he noted. “We are still in the early stage of VAT implementation so it is understandable that there is still some confusion. But consumer vigilance is the most vital component in making this VAT collection successful. That’s why it’s very important for them (consumers) to keep proper documentation like receipts and invoices when they place complaints,” Alzaabi added.
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