Shanghai consumer council handled more complaints in 2023

The Shanghai Consumer Council handled more than 420,000 complaints last year, soaring 36.68 percent from a year earlier, with the rapid recovery of the tourism market triggering more complaints, the council revealed on Friday.

The council also said among the overall 422,874 complaints, 50.9 percent were related to commodities, with clothing and shoes, household items, and electric appliances topping the list.

In terms of services, Internet services, culture, sports and entertainment, and sales services drew the largest number of complaints, the council said.

Altogether 16,425 complaints related to tourism were received by the council, with false advertising of hotels, shortened itineraries, communication problems over cross-border dispute handling, delays and adjustment of routes drawing the ire of tourists, according to the council.

Another 101,493 involved online shopping with false advertising and poor after-sales service of vlog promotions.

The council received nearly 10,000 complaints concerning cosmetology. Some businesses used exaggerated promotions and low prices as stunts to trick consumers into paying more during the service, and problems such as lack of business operation qualifications, and unclear charging were also found.

In total, 13,768 complaints regarded concerts with bad experience resulting from seating, random cancellation of tickets, and refusal of refund or return of tickets complained.