Council records 3024 consumer complaints worth $7m
THE Consumer Council of Fiji received a total of 3024 complaints worth about $7 million regarding faulty products and dissatisfactory services in the 2016-2017 financial year, according to the council’s CEO.
While making a submission on the 2016-2017 annual report to the parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs yesterday, CEO Seema Shandil said of the 3024 complaints received, 2635 complaints — or 87 per cent — were resolved successfully.
Of the remaining 389 cases, 160 cases were referred to other relevant agencies, 118 cases were referred to the Small Claims Tribunal, some were closed because they were deemed weak due to lack of evidence, and others were still pending because of their complicated nature, Ms Shandil said.
To resolve complaints through amicable solutions, the council held 330 mediations in the 2016-2017 period, according to the annual report.
The top three complaints received by the council included food and drinks (472), landlord/tenancy (470), and household electronic goods (301).
Other complaints related to mobile products such as phones and tablets, hardware materials, non-food issues such as expired products and increase in prices, water issues such as high bills, second-hand motor vehicles, and television services such as incorrect billing and poor customer service.
The council established its toll-free National Consumer Helpline in July 2016 and it received 7422 calls in the 2016-2017 financial year, of which 40 per cent or 2995 were genuine calls. Ms Shandil explained that the remaining 4427 calls were either prank, blank, static, wrong number or incomplete calls — which were issues faced by other toll-free numbers as well.