Consumers Complained More About Internet Shopping Last Year
“Distance contracts,” also known as Internet purchases, ranked first in consumer complaints reaching the Ministry of Commerce last year, followed by “defective goods and services.”
Consumers submit their complaints on many issues to the Ministry of Commerce through methods such as CIMER, e-Government, email and written request.
In this context, last year 130,680 consumer complaints were filed with the Ministry on issues such as timeshare vacations, tourist packages, sales with campaigns, sales outside the workplace, distance sales, consumer loans, housing loans , credit cards, periodicals, subscriptions, faulty goods and services.
“Distance contracts” ranked first in complaints with 35 thousand 20 requests. Within the scope of distance contracts, there are contracts established through distance communication tools, such as purchases over the Internet, without the simultaneous physical presence of the seller and the consumer.
THE SECOND LARGEST COMPLAINT IS ABOUT DEFECTIVE GOODS AND SERVICES
“Defective goods and services” ranked second in consumer complaints that reached the Ministry with 28,576 requests, followed by “commercial announcements and advertisements and unfair commercial practices” with 17,943 complaints.
Another area where consumers had problems was “after sales services” with 10,208 complaints.
Consumer arbitration commissions, installment sales, contracts established outside the workplace, pyramid sales, subscription contracts and prepaid home purchase and sale contracts also stood out as the issues that received the most complaints.
1000 CALLS ANSWERED PER DAY
On the other hand, the “Alo 175 Consumer Service Line” of the Ministry works as a call center application where solutions are offered to the problems faced by consumers and requests are directed to the corresponding authorities in order to resolve their disputes.
With this application it is intended that consumers can assert their rights without hesitation in all disputes that may arise from transactions and practices against them.
With the Alo 175 Consumer Helpline, consumers can obtain information about the problems they experience regarding the goods and services they buy, as well as the products that represent a risk in terms of human health, life and property safety. , and convey the problems they experience. . With this line, it is also intended to create a conscious consumer profile.
In the call center, where an average of 1,000 requests are handled daily, in 2021 476,650 calls were handled, while last year this figure was 333,438.
The calls received consisted mainly of defective goods and services, distance contracts, subscription contracts and after-sales services.
Calls were answered in an average of two minutes. (AA)