On-line Shopping Complaints Up Almost 75% Last Year

A consumer watchdog on Friday said the pandemic-driven shift of consumers to on-line shopping fuelled a surge in disputes last year and more than 10,000 complaints.

The Consumer Council said complaints connected to internet shopping accounted for almost 40 percent of the total it received in 2022, and marked a 73 percent increase over the year before.

The disputes involved over HK$36 million and were mostly about late or lost deliveries.

That prompted its chairman, Clement Chan, to call for improvements.

"The Council urges traders to improve logistics and delivery arrangements to ensure timely delivery of products to consumers, so as to reduce disputes arising from logistics problems," he said.

Chan also revealed that the council is striking deals with overseas and mainland authorities to help consumers who are not happy with goods they purchase further afield.

"We have carried out steps to step up our interaction with similar consumer protection agents in China... Even in other jurisdictions, including Singapore, Japan, Korea, we do have agreements signed," he said.

He also urged consumers to keep detailed records of their transactions to smooth out the investigation process but stressed that those without should still reach out to try to resolve their disputes.

"If the customer keeps more details about the transactions - ie transaction ordering on their mobile device and the confirmation sent in by the traders, as a matter of follow up or reconciling the differences - it will make the investigation process much easier," he said.

The council also noted that complaints involving quarantine hotels had risen almost five fold to 779 last year, with some people complaining about unsuccessful attempts to change dates and failure to get a refund after the government's ending of quarantine requirements for inbound arrivals.

Overall the consumer watchdog received more than 30,000 complaints in 2022, which was up 12 percent over the year before.