Car owners in Hong Kong driven mad by rising number of new vehicles not working properly, watchdog says
A rising number of new-car buyers have filed complaints about the repeated malfunctioning of their freshly purchased vehicles and about maintenance services, Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog said this morning.
In one case, the complainant bought a brand-new seven-seater car at HK$280,000. But even before the vehicle had reached a mileage of 2,000km, it was already failing to start up properly after brief halts, say, at traffic lights.
The owner sought help from the Consumer Council after her multiple requests for a replacement from the car company were turned down.
Another dissatisfied buyer realised a broken headlight was not covered under the warranty and had to pay for the repairs.
She noted the sale of goods of unsatisfactory quality was prohibited by law.
The Customs and Excise Department is responsible for enforcing the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which protects consumers from unfair trade practices.
In the first eight months of this year, the council received 56 complaints relating to new car purchases, 25 per cent more than in the same period last year.
There were 67 such cases for the whole of 2014.
The council advised consumers to pay attention to warranty details such as the effective period and fees for regular car check-ups.
“Some complaints about the maintenance services for new cars were caused by misunderstanding,” Professor Michael Hui King-man, chairman of the council’s publicity and community relations committee, said.
Hui said various car makers were complained about, without stating which brands recorded the most cases.
Amendments of the ordinance came into effect in 2013, extending the law’s coverage from physical goods to services.
It bans all forms of false descriptions of goods and services. Omitting important fees and adopting aggressive sales tactics are also illegal.
