Car industry tops number of consumer complaints

Last year, the automotive sector drew 3,302 complaints, a 46.4 percent jump from 2012, reported Consumers Association of Singapore (Case). Most complaints were about defective vehicles. In 2012 majority of the complaints were related to poor services.

In a press release yesterday, Lim Biow Chuan, President of Case, cited that the increasing number of complaints could be attributed to a higher number of people buying second hand cars in the wake of rising Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices for new cars. Overall, Case received a record 29,254 complaints last year, an increase of 13.7 percent from 2012.

In addition to the car industry, four other sectors including the electrical and electronics industry, beauty, mobile phone and furniture sectors received the highest number of complaints to Case, in the order of second, third and fourth.

Mr. Lim, also a Member of Parliament for Mountbatten, believes the rise in complaints does not relate to decreased business standards. He told The Straits Times other factors for poor business practices could include greater willingness by consumers to complain, higher expectations and lower tolerance.

According to the English daily, Case aided in resolving 77.5 percent of the complaints it handled and helped consumers recover more than $2.35 million in 2013.

Seah Seng Choon, Executive Director of Case, expects the number of complaints to head north over the following years as consumers become more aware of their rights. However he believes, in the long run, the number of complaints will reduce, as businesses are more likely to be fair, knowing that "consumers are more likely to complain otherwise".