Market watchdog shares holiday complaint data

Shanghai's market watchdog received 859 complaints and tip-offs from consumers over the first three days of the National Day break, most of them related to accommodation, food and closure issues.

The watchdog said on Friday that the 121 complaint calls about accommodation problems and 108 about food in the city represent a slight decreased compared with the same period last year. The majority of complaints were about poor service at restaurants, online bookings at hotels and delayed delivery of online food orders.

There were also complaints about shops selling goods without clearly marked prices, and people smoking in restaurants.

One man called the city's consumer complaint hotline 12315 after his hotel room did not match its description when he booked it online. He asked for a refund but was refused by the hotel.

The market watchdog added that there were 88 complaints and tip-offs related to clothing and 52 about furniture, up 35 percent and 28 percent, respectively, compared with last year.

Most of these complaints were about poor quality, inflated prices and poor after-sales service.

One man said he bought a floor-cleaning robot for 599 yuan (US$84), only to have it break the first day he used it. Another consumer complained that the size of a pair of sneakers he bought was wrong, but the seller was delaying their return.

There were also 52 calls about transport problems and 49 about entertainment.

All complaints and tip-offs are being processed by local authorities, the market watchdog said.