Top complaints on cable TV and cell phones

The cable television and mobile phone were the service and product with the highest number of complaints registered with consumer protection offices in 2009, according to the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC).

ANPC statistics sent to Business Standard indicate that some 200 Romanians filed a complaint daily at one of the consumer protection offices in the first nine months, due to dissatisfaction with a product or service they had acquired.

The total number is some 35,000 complaints, just one percent below the number of complaints filed with ANPC in the January-September 2008 period. However, the structure of complaints has changed significantly compared to previous years. While until 2007 Romanians complained mainly about foodstuffs, in 2008 and 2009 most complaints were about services.

"If, in previous years, the bulk of complaints targeted foodstuffs, recently, due to the diversification of the market, expansion of new technologies, and the supply of new types of services, also in close connection with Romania's joining the EU, the service sector began "gaining ground," now ranking first in terms of complaints," Constantin Cerbulescu, ANPC's President, told Business Standard. According to the official, the change in consumer behaviour is related not only to the fact that consumers are better informed about their rights, but that services now make up a greater portion in the consumer budget.

ANPC officials indicated that complaints in 2009 in the field of non-food services made up 41.6 percent of total complaints in the first nine months, followed by non-food products, with 29.5 percent, and foodstuffs, with 11.8 percent, financial services, with 7.0 percent, financial products, with 3.5 percent, and food services, with 2.6 percent.

standard.money.ro