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Home purchases lead to most consumer complaints

The Nation March 17, 2009 The Office of the Consumer Protection Board's Niroth Charoenprakob All cases allege companies' failure to honour contracts Thailand's property sector ranks No 1 in terms of complaints received by the Office of the Consumer Protection Board. In the fourth quarter of last year - which coincided with the first quarter of the current fiscal year - 396 complaints were filed against property firms, or 39 per cent of a total of 1,004 complaints. The office's secretary-general, Niroth Charoenprakob, said all complaints against property firms concerned the alleged failure of companies to honour contracts. In second place were consumer product and service firms, which faced 376 complaints filed by customers claiming low quality standards for both products and services. Following this group were 137 complaints filed against various firms for alleged misleading advertising. The final group comprised direct-sales businesses, with 95 complaints for alleged low quality of products. Niroth said that in the last fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2008, the property sector also ranked No 1 for consumer complaints. It generated 43.44 per cent of complaints, or 2,190 out of a total of 5,041 cases. The property segments that faced most complaints were detached housing, condominiums, residences for sale and home-builder firms. Most complaints about failure to honour contracts in detached housing projects had to do with delays to construction, misleading advertising and low-quality workmanship. Coinciding with the economic downturn, the office has seen signs of higher rates of alleged failure by property firms to meet their contractual obligations. The 396 complaints against property developers in the first quarter of the fiscal year was higher than in the corresponding period of 2007-2008, he said. Niroth said his office had tried to help home-buyers whose contracts had not been observed by trying to negotiate compromise settlements between the parties. As a last resort, it filed cases with the Civil Court. More than half of the complaints were settled out of court. "The office tries to help home-buyers and consumers, but our law doesn't give us authority to force the firms to do anything quickly. We have to help the parties reach a settlement, and if they cannot conclude a deal, we will file the case with the Civil Court to enforce the law," he said. However, Cabinet has recently approved draft legislation to set up an independent organisation to protect consumers' rights. The draft is being considered by the Council of State. According to the draft law, the new independent organisation will have the authority to investigate businesses and protect the rights of consumers of both goods and services. It will also have authority to file cases against businesses on behalf of individual consumers. "This law may come into effect in the next year, and it will to protect customers' rights," Niroth said.

 

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