Malay Mail : 6 November 2006

CONFLICTS between condominium residents and their management companies and problems stemming from the telecommunications industry and hypermarkets, are some of the emerging problems for consumers

Last year, the National Consumer Complaints Centre received 1,097 complaints against management companies while in the first half of this year, 544 complaints were recorded.

But this can be a complicated issue, said NCCC director Darshan Singh.

“Residents will say they are not getting the services promised but the management companies will claim that residents are not paying the maintenance fees,” he said.

On issues involving telecommunications industry, Darshan said that it is coming up with plenty of detrimental services such as friendship or romance-themed SMS or phone services, and even tips on sex.

“It encourages a lot of free movement and leads to crime, and is especially bad for children.

“This is going to lead to a mess for consumers and needs to be checked by the Multimedia Commission,” he said.

Last year, 588 complaints were recorded against telecommunications companies, and from January to June this year, there were 334 complaints.

Where hypermarkets are concerned, a major issue is that the prices on the shelf do not conform with the prices that are scanned at the cashier’s counter, said Darshan.

“And when people buy so many products, most do not check their receipts to ensure that everything is accurate,” he said.

Last year, 429 complaints were recorded against hypermarkets, and from January to June this year, half that number was recorded.

“Their defence is always human error but that is unacceptable.”