24 Aug
Issues with online shopping continue to be especially frustrating for South African consumers. The delayed delivery of items, goods becoming defective within six months, and generally poor customer service top the list of complaints.
The recent boom in online shopping has presented some teething problems for retailers and consumers alike. Helped along by the Covid-19 pandemic, which kept more people at home and out of brick-and-mortar shops, e-commerce has become big business in South Africa, valued at just under R200 billion per annum, more than doubling since 2019.
The meteoric rise of e-commerce is likely to continue, with FNB Merchant Services, citing accelerated digital adoption, expecting the market to reach more than R400 billion by 2025.
But with the popularity of online shopping comes more transactions, and more transactions, especially through platforms which are relatively new to most South Africans, have resulted in more complaints from consumers.
The Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO), which, in an ombud capacity, mediates and resolves complaints lodged by private citizens against businesses, received 11,834 complaints during the 2021/2022 financial year.
A quarter of these complaints related to online transactions. Last year, complaints about online shopping accounted for 27% of all grievances lodged with the CGSO, but, during the same year, the Council received roughly 2,600 more complaints than it did in 2021/2022.
In 2019, complaints concerning online transactions accounted for just 4% of all those received by the CGSO.
Following numerous consumer complaints, the CGSO issued alerts for four online retailers “for accepting payment and then failing or refusing to deliver the goods”. These public alerts called on consumers to “exercise extreme caution” when buying from the listed retailers.
“It is clear that the online shopping trend sparked by Covid is here to stay,” said Magauta Mphahlele, Consumer Goods & Services Ombudsman, in a statement on the Council’s annual report released on Wednesday.
“While the scammers and fraudsters tend to make the headlines, I would like to commend the vast majority of online suppliers and all our participants who responded positively to rectify customer service failures and uphold the integrity of the sector.”
The CGSO reported that, during the year under review, it was able to facilitate a positive outcome for complainants in 60% of cases. Of these, a third were fully in favour of the consumer.
A total of R11.5 million was paid out to consumers in refunds, “ranging from small amounts to more substantial sums”, up almost 50% from the previous year.
Refunds facilitated by the CGSO include a consumer “who made an error with an online subscription payment and entered the incorrect amount, overpaying by R84,000” and “R98,145 for an online purchase of specialised electronic equipment that the supplier was unable to source”.
23 Aug