Zhang Yang

nicolezyyy@163.com

THE Shenzhen Consumer Council received 21,446 complaints from consumers in the first quarter, a year-on-year growth of 40.85 percent, according to a report released by the council yesterday.

Among these complaints, 24.55 percent were concerning poor after-sales services, while 17.28 percent involved contract disputes and 14.22 percent involved quality issues.

Internet and telecom services received the most complaints from consumers, as there were 9,281 such complaints in the first quarter, accounting for 43.27 percent of the total complaints and soaring by 76.48 percent compared with the first quarter last year.

The council received 1,100 complaints regarding broadband service providers in the first quarter, including 278 complaints against China Telecom, 144 against China Mobile and 613 against Great Wall Broadband, due to poor after-sales services, slow Internet speeds and unstable Internet access.

There were 200 complaints about online loans in the first quarter, including 153 complaints against Dafycredit, a Qianhai-based financial company.

A consumer in Liuzhou, surnamed Liu, bought an iPhone 6S by paying installments to the company in June last year, but the company charged her a premium of 5,184 yuan (US$752) in addition to the 5,800-yuan cost of the phone. Liu said that the company’s sales associate, who had not told her about the premium, forged her signature on the contract.

Additionally, there were 143 complaints concerning children’s products in the first quarter, including 99 complaints against a Shenzhen-based company that failed to return users’ deposits for rental strollers as it had promised.

A Beijing customer, surnamed Fan, said that she had rented a stroller on an app operated by the company in June 2015 after paying the 1,699-yuan deposit. The company promised that the annual rent for a stroller was only 1 yuan and that the company would return the deposit after the customer returned the stroller.

The council has received 365 complaints since last June from consumers who said the company hadn’t returned their deposits. The council said that the company might be in breach of its contracts.

Additionally, there were 18 complaints in the first quarter against a local e-commerce company that was allegedly involved in online pyramid selling.

According to the council, the company offered commissions to its customers as a way to encourage them to invite new customers to buy products on its shopping website. However, the company shut down its WeChat account March 13, a month after the account was put into use.

The council said that consumers should be wary of online pyramid selling scams, as the pyramid selling groups usually promise the customers high returns to cheat them into recruiting new customers for them.