Hong Kong consumer watchdog records 17,000 online shopping complaints in 2024
Complaints filed involved issues such as the inability to return products, delays resulting in fines and missing packages
Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog recorded 17,000 complaints linked to online shopping last year, accounting for about 40 per cent of all cases, with problems including an inability to return products, delays that caused fines and loss of packages.
The Consumer Council also revealed on Thursday that 148 online shopping complaints related to logistics services were received between January and July in 2024, which nearly doubled to 279 this year over the same period.
One such complaint involved a defective computer monitor, valued at 1,650 yuan (US$230), that could not be returned, despite the mainland Chinese e-commerce platform advertising a local return service in Hong Kong.
The complainant initially brought the product back to the logistics provider’s service point in Fo Tan as per the local return policy and received her HK$72 delivery fee refund. But she was told her product was “ineligible” for local return service, prompting her to file a complaint with the platform.
Upon the intervention of the council, a refund was issued, with the whole process taking 2½ months.
Another complaint was due to a lag between the sending and receiving times of a mobile text message, which resulted in a late fee for the customer despite collecting the package from a self-pickup locker within the designated time frame of 24 hours.