PETALING JAYA,Nov 13: Complaints about online purchases have increased by 145.6% since the movement control order (MCO) came into effect, the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry said today.
Bernama reported a ministry official as saying 8,263 complaints were received between March 18 and Oct 31 compared with only 3,364 complaints in the same period last year.
Consumerism movement division principal assistant director Maisarah Mohd Baidzowi said they had managed to resolve 97.1% or 8,026 of the complaints so far.
“Among the highest number of complaints related to online transactions were about the non-delivery of goods or services that had been purchased, and about the goods delivered not being as advertised.
“In situations where goods or services ordered are not received by the complainant, where there is an element of fraud, enforcement action will be taken, with the cooperation of the police,” she was quoted as saying by the national news agency.
To further complement its efforts to protect consumers, Maisarah said the ministry now had nine ways for the public to channel online transaction-related complaints following the continued upward trend in online purchases.
Consumers can channel their complaints to the ministry via the e-Aduan portal at http://e-aduan.kpdnhep.gov.my, Ez-ADU application, call the consumer hotline at 1-800-886-800 or email to eaduan@kpdnhep.hep.gov.my.
The ministry also accepts complaints via WhatsApp at 019-279 4317, and also at the Enforcement Command Center (ECC), the enforcement operations room in each state, via letters addressed to the ministry or by personally heading to the ministry’s head office or branch offices in the respective states.
“The ministry has established the online complaints channel to reduce physical or face-to-face meetings between the staff at the Consumer Complaints Management Centre in the ministry and the public.
“This effort is to ensure that the complaints filing process is in compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOP) outlined by the government for the MCO period,” she said when interviewed on the “Jendela Fikir” programme aired on Bernama Radio yesterday.
