The Consumer Council handled a total number of 2,695 cases in the first half of 2018, there are 958 complaints, 1,733 inquiries and 4 suggestions.
403 cases from top five complaint categories
The top 5 categories are jewellery (100 cases), real estates (88 cases), public transportation (85 cases), entertainment (67 cases), and food and beverage (63 cases), these categories amount to about 42 percent of the total complaint cases received in the first half of 2018.
About 80 percent of the complaint cases on jewellery involve transactions of gold, 70 cases are lodged by tourists and are solved after mediation. The Council reminds businesses to give explicit information to consumers about gold fineness, labour charge, and repurchasing terms to avoid any dispute and to maintain Macao’s image as an international shopping city.
The number of complaint cases regarding real estate has increased, over half of the cases involve consumers making purchase in Macao or China.
For public transportation, 72 cases are related to disputes over prices, longer routes, and service attitude, etc., about 70 percent of cases are lodged by tourists. The Council has referred the related cases to the enforcement department ; for entertainment, 86 percent of the cases involve the extended service of an activity where consumers request the Council to reflect their complaints to the organizer.
63 complaint cases are recorded under food & beverage, which is three quarter of the total number of cases received in 2017. All cases involve disputes over prices, which includes surcharges during holidays, and have been referred to the enforcement department.
Advices to consumers
Tourists’ complaints are caused by various factors, including business practices, lack of information, cultural differences in shopping, etc., the Council will strengthen its work on giving shopping advices to inbound tourists, and with the co-operation of consumer organization in the Mainland, such promotion materials will be forwarded and reported widely to Mainland tourists before they come to shop in Macao.
A feature on shopping advices for tourists coming to Macao is now available on the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and the Council’s WeChat account. Consumers are able to get information on purchasing jewellery, watches, mobile phones, etc, and get tips on visiting food outlets and taking taxis, information on “Certified Shops” and complaint hotlines can also be found.
A detailed report on the number of cases received in the first half of 2018 will be published in Consumer Report later.
