THE CONSUMER Affairs Commission (CAC) secured more than $3.5 million in cash refunds for consumers between January and June this year. Almost half of the refunds to consumers related to automotive transactions, particularly used car dealers.
There have also been growing complaints about the telecommunications services, including cellular phone provider, Digicel. About 40 reached the CAC in one month, the Commission said yesterday.
With reference to motor vehicles, the complaints stemmed from consumers being unable to secure full or partial refunds on their own, when dealers breached their contracts or when incorrect parts are given.
During the period, the CAC obtained $490,000 for a consumer whose bus malfunctioned three weeks after it was purchased and where the replacement vehicle also broke down. In another case, a consumer got back $381,000 for a motor vehicle after dealers made several promises but failed to deliver the vehicle to the consumer.
Several consumers also received refunds for their cellular telephones, after complaining about the phones being faulty, the unavailability of replacement phones and the length of time it took phone dealers to repair them.
They also complained about having to pay a deposit to obtain these telephones, while theirs were being fixed. But, vendors said that when there is an unavailability of phones, the deposits for loaner phones were required, because some consumers refused to return loaner phones despite a promise to refund them their deposit upon the phone's return.
For its part, the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), another regulatory consumer agency, received 79 complaints about automobile parts and accessories and 36 regarding telecommunications.
The CAC said that complaints to the Commission about household furniture were down, but the FTC recorded 14 complaints regarding household furniture and the Bureau of Standards held a meeting to discuss concerns with several persons in the furniture sector earlier this week.
The FTC also received 39 complaints about household appliances, 21 about computers and 15 on professional services, within the first six months of this year.
The CAC is encouraging persons to be vigilant when purchasing goods. Between April 2001 and March 2002, the Commission resolved 2,480 of the 2,853 cases it handled.
