DTI: Complaints on online transactions now over 13k

Consumer complaints involving online transactions have reached more than 13,000 over the first nine months of the year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Monday.

During a Senate hearing of the P22.4 billion proposed budget of the DTI and its attached agencies for 2021, Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said that from 985 complaints from January to March, the number ballooned to 13,674 as of September 25.

The months of April and June saw the most significant increases, she added.

More than 55 percent of these 13,674 complaints were related to the Price Act; 21.03 percent involved defective products; and 13.86 percent were related to deceptive, unfair, or unconscionable sales acts or practices, according to data from the DTI.

Aside from these, 30,000 other consumer complaints involving offline transactions were recorded as of September 25, Castelo added.

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel said the DTI must continue to ensure consumer protection amid the pandemic.

"That means that we really have to strengthen the protection of our consumers not only through new laws but the actual enforcement of existing laws on the ground," he said.

Castelo had said that the DTI was planning to come up with a registry of all online sellers or businesses for consumer protection purposes. -NB, GMA News