Buyers' gripes hit 3,400 after new trade descriptions law comes into effect

The Consumer Council has received 3,463 complaints over unfair selling practices since the amended Trade Descriptions Ordinance took effect a year ago.

One complaint involved HK$473,500 - the highest amount in any of the cases - over a property trading scandal last year, when the sale of hotel suites developed by Cheung Kong Holdings was cancelled.

Most complaints involved medicine, telecommunication services, recreation or health clubs and food and entertainment services among others, the council said yesterday.

Almost 60 per cent of the complaints were about false or misleading trade descriptions, while others involved aggressive commercial practices, wrongly accepted payment and misleading omissions in descriptions. More than a quarter were made by tourists, of which almost 90 per cent were by mainland tourists.

Council chairman Professor Wong Yuk-shan said the high number of complaints received was because of the effort the government and the council had put in to promoting the new law.

Amendments to the Trade Descriptions Ordinance in July last year expanded its coverage from goods to services.