The Scotsman

Scottish consumers resigned to bad service

- By LUCINDA CAMERON

Seven in ten Scottish consumers are resigned to poor service in one or more sectors, a new report has found.

The annual Consumer Action Monitor Scotland found that Scottish consumers experience­d 12.7 million issues with products and services in 2017.

However only a third (33 per cent) of these complaints were reported to companies, leaving 8.1 million complaints unaddresse­d.

There were 4.6 million active complaints in 2017, down 13 per cent on 2016, howeveriti­sthought“longterm frustratio­ns” could be behind the decrease.

The Ombudsman Services report suggests that the perceived hassle, previous bad experience­s, disillusio­nment and lack of trust could be discouragi­ng consumers from taking action.

The largest number of complaints were in the retail sector (24 per cent), followed by telecoms, public transport and energy at around 11 per cent each. People were most resigned to poor service in transport (31 per cent) followed by energy (16 per cent) and telecoms (15 per cent). The study found that a quarter (26 per cent) of people believe you can only get a result from a complaint if you kick up a big fuss.

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