Consumer complaints rose to a new high of 26,756 cases last year, up 1% on 2003 but 17% on 2002, the Consumer Council says. Telecom services (7,740 cases), electrical appliances (1,584), and telecom equipment (1,496) continued to top the list of complaints.

Consumer dissatisfaction in telecom services was directed mainly at Internet (44.7%), fixed telecom network and fax (26.3%), and mobile phone (15.6%) services.

For electrical appliances, visual and audio equipment like VCD, DVD, CD, MD and MP3 systems saw most complaints.

For telecom equipment, mobile phones dominated overwhelmingly (91%), with complaints mainly on product quality and maintenance.

Computers (1,219 cases), furniture and fixtures (1,213), broadcasting services (1,019), and food and drink products (1,001) were also among the 69 categories of goods and services with complaints exceeding 1,000 cases.

Broadcasting complaints triple

Broadcasting services recorded a hefty 202% rise due mainly to complaints on undesirable sales practices and early termination of paid TV services, and the bundling of charges of paid TV with broadband Internet services. These seven categories combined accounted for 57% of all complaints for the year.

Other notable surges were recreation and health clubs, including fitness centres (308 cases, up 58%), mainly over operators unable to provide services as promised and disputes over terms and conditions of membership, and hotel and dining club memberships (198 cases, up 68%), largely because of their marketing tactics.

They were among an overall 28 categories of goods and services with consumer complaints on the rise last year. But at the same time, 35 categories recorded falling complaints.

35 categories fall

There were also some considerable falls, such as travel agents (820 cases, down 37%), financial services (687, down 35%), drugs and Chinese herbal medicines (540, down 51%), properties (484, down 40%), and further-education services (343, down 41%).

For travel agents, there was a substantial drop in complaints related to price increases before or after full payment was made. In financial services, there were no complaints related to termination of mutual funds and a general fall in complaints related to credit cards.

Drugs and Chinese herbal medicines fell as there was no SARS outbreak.

For properties, there was no developer involved in winding-up action in the sales of uncompleted flats. But complaints were raised against delays in the completion of two developments involving 2,060 units, and also the bundling of telecom charges in building management fees. Council action saw one developer agree to levy Internet service charges only on users.

For further-education services, the drop can be attributed to motorists' better awareness of obtaining cross-border licences following the council's exposure of a local company claiming a guarantee in passing driving exams and obtaining licences.

Tourist complaints up 22%

With tourism up 38%, complaints also rose 22% to 1,505 cases, or 5.62% of all consumer complaints. Nearly two-thirds or 980 cases were received from Mainland visitors, up 34% on 2003. Of these, 788 were received from visitors on group tours, as most were dissatisfied with the purchases they were led to make by tour guides, while the other 192 were by those on the Independent Mainland Travellers Scheme.

Despite the 14-day refund guarantee, travel industry sources said the problem had its roots in group tours that were priced cheaply or even purportedly free and operators had to cover costs from rebates.

The council is forging closer ties with Mainland counterparts. In December, it signed an agreement with consumer organisations in Beijing, Shanghai and Macau, for co-operation in training, advice and complaints, information exchange and promotion of consumer rights. The council has since received 11 complaints, one from Beijing and 10 from Shanghai.

As the local economy progressively shifts to a service-based one, consumer complaints also continued to reflect the changing marketplace. Some 15,139 cases or 57% of complaints were related to services while 11,617 or 43% were for products.

Legal action fund

The Consumer Legal Actions Fund considered six groups of cases during the year and a total of 64 groups since its inception in November 1994.

Among the successful cases was one in which, through litigation and settlement, the fund was able to recover overcharged school fees for more than 100 parents of kindergarten children.

In another case, a consumer was helped to take legal action against a developer for multiple defects in a newly-built flat. Subsequently she was able to recover part of her claim and all the legal costs by settlement before trial.