The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) bared the top three complaints it had received from consumers. These are defective products, false advertising, and poor customer service.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, DTI Assistant Secretary for Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Ann Claire C. Cabochan revealed that the trade department has received 21,406 complaints from consumers from January 1 to September 30,2022.
Of the 21,406 complaints, Cabochan said 8,960 complaints are from online transactions while the remainder came from transactions from physical stores.
Ruth B. Castelo, DTI Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Group, told the BusinessMirror.
“Out of the 8,960, 6,731 are endorsed to other government agencies concerned like FDA [Food and Drug Administration], NTC [National Telecommunications Commission], DA [Department of Agriculture] et cetera.”
She also highlighted DTI’s role in handling consumer complaints, noting that the agency has a “no wrong door” policy, hence, it accepts all consumer complaints and “endorse them accordingly.”
According to Cabochan, “the bulk of those complaints are actually nandoon siya sa communication and Internet concerns. So iyon po ay ini-endorse po namin sa National Telecommunications Commission.”
As for the matters within the purview of the trade department, she said, “ang pinaka marami ’yung tungkol sa liability for product and service imperfection so iyong mga defective products at saka iyong mga problema tungkol sa mga unconscionable sales act at saka iyong warranties po.”
Cabochan said in 2021, the total number of complaints the agency received reached 31,000, majority of which was from physical store transactions.
As to how consumers will be protected while they use online shopping platforms, Cabochan said Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 22-01 was issued in March 2022 to lay down the guidelines reiterating the laws and regulations applicable to online businesses and consumers.
The JAO 22-01 includes the list of liabilities of online businesses, among others. Moreover, the trade official said the JAO also provides for sanctions for violators.
It is also worth noting, Cabochan said, that with the help of the National Privacy Commission (NPC), the DTI can go after online sellers if they are subject to complaint.
“We have been in close coordination with these online sellers. So ngayon, they know that, dati kasi we had problems before na hindi namin nakukuha iyong mga detalye sa isang online seller kahit nagbibenta sila sa isang platform,” Cabochan stressed.
“Ngayon with the help of the National Privacy Commission, nakikita naman natin na hindi naman pala iyan sakop sa… iyon sinasabi nating dapat magiging ano, ’yung may right to privacy,” Cabochan added.
This, she said, gives them the power to obtain the details of the platform and will later on oblige the platform to release it to DTI if it is subject to complaint.
Cabochan noted that if the platform fails to provide the details, the trade department would go after it as the JAO provides for sanctions regarding the matter.
Cabochan also revealed 2022 estimates show that e-commerce enterprises have already hit 2 million in the country, surpassing the DTI’s initial estimate of 750,000 for this year.
“But we now see, based on our data from mga platforms, from last mile delivery services, from Fintech [financial technologies] companies na nasa 2 million na po,” Cabochan said.
Castelo, for her part, told the BusinessMirror, “We encourage MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises] to have their business names registered to legitimize their operations and to increase consumer confidence.”