Others News
- Chinese consumers show less tolerance with shoddy goods, services
Date: 16-Mar-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
Chinese consumers, increasingly aware of their rights, were awarded 783 million yuan (102 million U.S. dollars) in compensation for unqualified products and services in 2006.
The country's industrial and commercial departments handled 156,000 cases concerning consumer rights violations in the past year compared with just 8,041 cases in 1985 when most Chinese people were unaware of the China Consumers' Association (CCA).
Fake commodities, misleading advertisements and over-priced housing have come to the spotlight of public concern on March 15, World Consumer Rights Day.
A survey carried out by the CCA earlier this year showed the majority of complaints concerned mobile phone quality and services, food safety, housing prices and poor services provided by emerging industries such as online services.
Chinese consumers showed more discernment toward durable products, such as cars which pollute the environment, but less tolerance with unsatisfactory services provided by monopoly industries such as China Telecom.
The survey also shows that people in less developed regions are more tolerant than those in relatively developed areas. People in east China's Shanghai Municipality and Shandong and Zhejiang provinces accounted for 26 percent of the nation's complaints in 2006.
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