Double 11 shopping gala sees spike in complaints

The number of complaints over this year's Double 11 shopping festival has surged, the Shanghai Consumer Council revealed on Thursday night.

Amid a prolonged marketing campaign duration used by businesses and e-commerce platforms, consumer councils citywide received 17,342 complaints between October 20 and November 16, soaring 52.8 percent from the same period last year.

Clothing and shoes, household items and cosmetics topped the list of online shopping commodity complaints, their numbers hitting 2,238, 1,135 and 1,027, respectively, according to the council.

Express delivery, prepaid card sales and catering and accommodation were the top three areas of dissatisfaction in terms of online shopping services.

Misleading promotions and marketing tricks also drew the ire of consumers, the council said.

In the pre-sales stage before November 1, some businesses promised they were offering the biggest discounts of the year, tricking consumers into deals. But consumers found that the prices were even lower in the second round of promotion campaign between November 1 and 11, the council said.

Slow delivery, delivery failure, refund disputes and poor after-sales service also enraged consumers, the council said.

There were 1,383 complaints regarding express delivery services, up 1.68 times from the same period last year.