The number of problems against the electrical plus electronic industry increased by 45 % in the first 6 months of this year when compared to same period a year ago.
About 40 per cent of the complaints were about defective or non-conforming goods, while 30 per cent were about firms failing in order to honour their contractual agreements.
The particular spike in issues was attributed to disputes against a direct vendor of alkaline drinking water systems, Triple Lifestyle Advertising . CASE said it received 162 complaints about the company in the first half of this season.
“Consumers acquired complained that the business was either unconcerned to requests designed for service appointments or even did not show up designed for scheduled appointments regardless of the company’s representations during the sales process that they would repair the water dispensers or drinking water filtration systems if defects occurred, ” stated the consumer watchdog.
Mr Yong said that under the Consumer Defense (Fair Trading) Operate, if a defect is found within six months associated with delivery, it is assumed the defect existed at the time of delivery. Consumers are eligible for exchange the defective product even after the stated exchange period by the retailer, he added.
SITUATION also received 717 complaints against the beauty industry in the 1st six months of this yr, a 14 percent increase from last year.
About an one fourth of the complaints towards spas and attractiveness salons related to stress sales tactics plus misleading claims. Consumers reported that they had been pressured to buy higher price massage or even beauty treatment packages, or were misinformed about the efficacy of products or services.
An overall total of 1, 107 problems were lodged within the first half of this year relating to online purchases, an increase from the 986 complaints in the same period last year. The particular increase can be attributed to a higher number of problems against online market segments and food delivery platforms.
The most common types of e-commerce issues include defective or non-conforming goods, failing of the seller to provide the food item or product, and conflicts over refunds, said CASE.
Customers reported S$289, 842 in prepayment deficits in the first half this year. The beauty as well as medical and medical consumables industries saw the greatest amount of prepayment loss in that period.
Mr Yong stated: “Over the past two years, some businesses in the attractiveness and medical appearances industries have been negatively impacted by deteriorating financial conditions and declining consumer spend, plus were forced to near.
“As an outcome, consumers with prepaid packages lost certain or all of their prepayments. CASE is concerned with this issue, as it can be rough for consumers to recuperate their monies each business goes financially troubled.
“To far better protect consumers from prepayment losses, EVENT has called concerning the Government to mandate prepayment protection during industries where people tend to make large sums of payment advance. ”