Consumer Council handled 5,067 cases in 2017
The Consumer Council handled 5,067 cases last year, of which 1,647 are complaints, 3,397 inquiries and 23 suggestions.
The total number of cases of the top 5 categories of complaints amount to 739, which is about 45 percent of the total. The top 5 categories are public transportation (147 cases), telecommunication services and jewelries (137 cases), telecommunication equipment (121 cases), food and beverage (103 cases), and personal care products and services (94 cases).
Taxi and air transport total over 100 cases
For public transportation, 63 cases are related to taxi and 44 cases are related to air passenger service, the main issues include business practice and dispute over prices. The number of cases of telecommunication services has slightly dropped while number of cases of jewelries has increased by 57 percent, most cases are lodged by tourists regarding the value of “K-gold”. Complaint cases of telecommunication equipment has decreased by 40 percent, about 30 percent of the cases received regarding personal care products and services are issues involving service quality and sales technique of staff of beauty treatments.
About 1,000 cases from tourists
In 2017, the Council received 574 and 421 cases of complaints and inquiries from tourists respectively, which are about 20 percent of the total number of cases received in the whole year and a 46 percent increase comparing with the number of 2016. A lot of these cases involve mainland tourists buying “K-gold” in Macao where some of the shops failed to explain clearly the gold fineness and thus resulting in consumer disputes. The Council had disseminated the relevant information to mainland consumers to protect consumers and enhance their confidence in shopping in Macao. Shops are reminded to explain the nature of gold products to consumers and required by law to state the gold fineness on the invoice or receipt.
The Consumer Council will publish details of the 2017 figures and other consumer alerts.