PETALING JAYA, Oct 2 — Malaysian consumers had to endure a huge loss of more than RM360 million last year due to dissatisfying products and poor service quality in various sectors.
According to the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) the record was based on 54,618 complaints from consumers they had received last year compared to 48,563 complaints in 2016.
E-Commerce (online shopping) sector recorded the highest number of complaints with a total of 10, 615 complaints followed by retail services (5,159) and telecommunication and broadband services (4,950), Senior Manager Legal and Policy division Shabana Naseer Ahmad said.
“Last year, many online shoppers were unhappy due to the inability to obtain refund from merchants or the refund process took too long.
“Based on the complaints received, many consumers asked for refund due to goods received were damaged, waited too long and did not receive the product within the guaranteed date specified by the seller,” she said at the press conference on 2018 NCCC Annual Report here, today.
Also present was NCCC Chief Operating Officer T. Saravanan.
Shabana said grouses related to retail services were mostly related to service quality due to dissatisfaction of consumers with the product, service and attitude of sales personnel even before a purchase was made.
According to Shabana, billing was the highest complaints under telecommunication and broadband services sector which comprised of unsubscribed services, termination and overcharges or incorrect billing for a different package which was wrongly subscribed.
She added the NCCC also received a total of 3,465 complaints against the Housing and Real Estate industry and most of the complaints were related to unsatisfactory renovation service such as poor quality of work that led to some defects to the property besides delay in renovation.
“Although coming in at seventh place in the number of complaints received, with monetary value of a staggering RM133 million, the housing and real estate industry topped the total of value attached to complaints received under a specific sector,” she said.
Shabana said almost 60 to 70 per cent of complaints by the consumers received by NCCC had been resolved.
Meanwhile, Saravanan said the NCCC annual report enabled consumers and regulators to better understand the industries.
“We want the government especially the enforcement unit to look into this report and see what the gaps of consumer protection and consumer welfare are. Consumers are also advised to make complaints to the right channel,” he said. — Bernama
