CONTACT US
Find out what we complained about most last year...
Second-hand cars bought from independent dealers have once again topped the list of annual complaints received by government-funded advice service Consumer Direct, it has been announced.
This particular used car market drew 47,019 complaints in 2008 - up 12.27% on the total for 2007.
Service agreements for mobile phones were the second-biggest cause of complaint last year, although the number of people dissatisfied in this category fell nearly 10% compared with 2007.
Consumer Direct advisers answered almost 1.6 million calls and emails in 2008 and logged 874,171 consumer complaint cases - up almost 7% from the previous year.
Among the top 10 grumbles last year, complaints about women's clothing registered the highest rise - up almost 23% on the previous 12 months.
More than half of all complaints in 2008 concerned goods and services bought at the traders' premises, 11% resulted from internet purchases, and 10% were about telephone transactions.
The data collected by Consumer Direct is used to help the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), local authority trading standards services and other regulators build intelligence, determine priorities and focus resources.
OFT research published in April 2008 found that people in the UK experience more than 26 million consumer problems a year, causing an estimated £6.6 billion of difficulties.
Consumer Direct operations manager Michele Shambrook said: "Many millions of people are losing out financially from substandard goods and services, but very often consumers do have routes for redress.
"Finding out about your rights is the first step to claiming the refunds, repairs and replacements you may be entitled to."
Complaints to Consumer Direct in 2007 2008
calendar years 2007 and 2008
Second hand cars purchased from 41,880 47,019
independent dealers
Mobile Phones (service agreements) 34,679 31,267
TVs 19,744 20,313
Mobile Phones (hardware) 17,760 20,159
Car repairs and servicing from 15,253 16,176
independent garages
Second hand cars purchased from 13,322 15,230
franchise dealers
Upholstered furniture 14,024 14,530
Women's clothing 11,732 14,390
Internet Service Providers 13,536 14,246
Leather furniture 11,567 12,979
Total complaints 819,815 874,171
