The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that its answers to consumer complaints in 2022 led it to claw back more than $11.2 million for Queensland consumers during the year.
Welcoming the Office’s achievement, the Minister for Justice, Shannon Fentiman said that with more Queenslanders feeling the pressure from the rising cost of living, it was important consumers received what they paid for and that they felt they were getting value for money.
“Last year the OFT finalised more than 19,300 complaints from Queensland consumers,” Ms Fentiman said.
“And the highest number of consumer complaints continued to be for the personal and household goods industry with the OFT finalising more than 6,200 complaints,” she said.
“This category includes purchases of everyday items such as whitegoods, appliances, hardware, clothing and footwear – so it’s no surprise this continues to be at the top of the complaints list.”
She said however that since the pandemic, complaints had soared for those types of purchases, with more than a 50 per cent increase since 2019.
“There has also been an increase of more than 80 per cent in complaints for the personal and household services industry since the pandemic,” Ms Fentiman said,
“This industry includes complaints about services such as whitegoods repairs, removalist services and cleaning companies.”
She said increases were to be expected after pent-up demand and supply chain issues during COVID-19 which is an issue the OFT is closely monitoring.
The Minister said consumers can protect themselves by doing their homework and asking questions – Is the item in stock? What date will I receive it? And will you provide a full refund if I don’t have it by that date?
“If the consumers still encounter problems, they can lodge a complaint with the OFT,” she said.
She said the five most complained industries OFT received in 2022 were:
* Personal and household goods (e.g. furniture, whitegoods, TVs, computers) – 6,256;
*Personal and household services (e.g. repairs to whitegoods, removalists services, cleaning, gardening, etc) – 2,719;
* Motor vehicle sales – 1,340;
* Real estate agents (excluding resident letting) -1,101; and
* Motor vehicle service, repairs, parts – 1,036
