The Taipei City Government yesterday unveiled a list of companies that had received the most complaints last year, calling on consumers to be more cautious when shopping in order to protect their rights.
US computer giant Apple Inc topped the list with a total of 418 consumer complaints filed with the city government’s consumer ombudsmen last year.
Taiwan Mobile Co was second ion the list, with 390 complaints filed last year, mostly over its fee policies.
Yahoo Hong Kong Ltd, World Gym and Game Filer International Corp rounded out the top five, according to the Taipei City Government’s Law and Regulation Commission.
Commission head Yeh Chin-yuan (葉慶元) said about 90 percent of the complaints filed against Apple were about a pricing error of a computer model on its local online store in November. The Web site listed the Mac Mini at NT$19,900, or about 40 percent of the regular price of NT$47,710.
The pricing error on the Apple Education Store Web site was corrected several hours after it was discovered, but the site had already received orders for up to 200,000 units at the incorrect price.
Apple later agreed to allow consumers who were students and schoolteachers to purchase the computer at the discounted price, but charged other consumers the regular price, sparking complaints from consumers, Yeh said.
About 10 percent of the complaints about Apple were filed over poor reception from users of the iPhone 4, he added.
Consumer complaints filed against Yahoo were mainly about disputes over online shopping, while the complaints against World Gym were about memberships after the company bought California Fitness Center.
The commission also issued consumer warnings against Vibo Telecom Inc and PChome Online Inc for their reluctance to discuss how they planned to deal with complaints from consumers.
Chen Bi-chu (陳碧珠), Taipei City’s chief consumer ombudsman, said the companies may face fines up to NT$300,000 for refusing to negotiate and failing to respond to complaints in accordance with the Consumer Act (消費者保護法).
However, Chen acknowledged that the city government had not fined any of the above-mentioned companies.
Yeh said the Taipei City government would continue to strive for the rights of the consumers and he encouraged consumers to telephone 1950 or (02) 2725-6169 if they have a complaint about a company or product.
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