By Elliot Wright, 27th Januaru 2010
Consumer rights organisation Consumer Direct received a
staggering 850,000 complaints from British shoppers about
unsatisfactory goods and services last year.
Although the figure was less than the previous year's, certain
areas saw a massive increase in complaints.
The fastest growing area of complaints concerned laptops,
netbooks and tablet PCs, with a massive 43% leap in customers
dissatisfied with products.
While gripes about TVs saw a 9% increase, with 22,184 complaints
registered.
The biggest complaint area for Brits was second-hand
car lodged against them - an 8% increase on last year.
There were also 16,000 objections about servicing from
independent garages and a further 15,236 against official dealers
as motorists had a particularly bad year.
Complaints about mobile phone contracts fell by almost a third
as thrifty shoppers became savvier about deals on offer.
More than half of complaints were about goods and services
bought in-store, while 13 per cent were moans about online shopping
and ten per cent related to phone purchases.
Consumer Direct spokesman David Fisher said: "While complaint
levels dropped slightly in 2009, complaints about some goods such
as laptops and TVs rose significantly. This may reflect growing
sales for particular products rather than a higher percentage of
faulty goods or services."
Useful links:
How
to make a good complaint
How to deal
with faulty goods
How to deal
with problems with second-hand cars
Mobile phone complaints
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