Many companies cock a snook at Consumer Ombud

07 April 2016 - 09:51 By Wendy Knowler

In releasing his office’s 2015/6 annual report‚ ombud Neville Melville said 189 companies had registered with the office and paid their dues - mostly large groups - but “there may be thousands of other eligible businesses” which have not.The CGSO is biased neither in favour of consumers nor the companies they complain about‚ but it relies entirely on the fees paid by registered companies in order to operate.And here’s the thing - it has to deal with complaints against a business even if it has chosen not to register with it‚ which puts the office under what Melville calls “extreme pressure” and has led to a backlog in cases.Cases get resolved in just under two months‚ on average‚ but at the end of February almost 250 cases were still open‚ three months on.Of those which were resolved in the year up to February‚ 67% offered the consumer some form of relief‚ a high percentage when compared with the ombud’s offices in the financial sector‚ which find in favour of consumers in only about a third of cases.“I think the fact that the amount of money involved in our cases is generally a lot less than in the average banking or insurance case‚ has a lot to do with that‚” said Melville‚ who was formerly the Ombudsman for Banking Services.The CGSO’s rulings are not binding and the office can’t impose sanctions on businesses who fail to abide by them; all the office can do is refer those “uncooperative” cases to the National Consumer Commission (NCC) for action to be taken against them.Melville says “it is unknown what becomes of those cases”‚ adding later in his report that “in some of these cases the complainants have reported some challenges with having their cases dealt with by the NCC”.“Both entities are working on ways to ensure consumers access to proper and effective redress‚” he said.Unsurprisingly‚ cellphones were the most complained about product - 951 complaints between March 2015 and February 2016; a whopping 613 of them about MTN‚ thanks mainly to its protracted strike.During that time‚ the network failed to respond to social media posts‚ emails and calls for weeks‚ and because it put CGSO’s number on its website‚ many desperate subscribers assumed it was MTN’s number.But at least MTN has registered with the CGSO; the other networks have refused to do so since July last year; which goes a long way to explaining why the ombud’s office only got 110 Vodacom complaints in the year‚ and just 62 regarding Cell C.“The matter has been referred to the NCC for its decision as to whether network providers fall within the CGSO’s jurisdiction‚” Melville said.The CGSO has referred several matters to the NCC for investigation in the past year‚ including the unilateral price increases of cellphone contracts and Loan Tracker SA‚ a company which “advertises that it assists consumers in obtaining loans‚ whereas it subscribes consumers for all sorts of different things for a monthly fee”‚ said Melville in his report.Both issues were covered by In Your Corner:Avoid shocks, read fine printA law unto themselves?CONTACT WENDY:Email: consumer@knowler.co.zaTwitter: @wendyknowler- TMG Digital/The Times..

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