Not surprised to see Harvey Norman and Air Asia in top 3 here, I possibly would have expected Masters on the list.
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/biz_res/ftweb/Public_Regis…
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/biz_res/ftweb/Public_Regis…
Fair Trading goes public with Top 20 Companies for Complaints
tonka on 25/08/2016 - 20:18
Last edited 25/08/2016 - 20:19
Last edited 25/08/2016 - 20:19
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or Kogan
No telcos either
Maybe because Telco complaints are directed to the TIO?
eBay doesn't sell anything, they're just the venue where anyone can sell stuffs. Most problems are with the sellers themselves not eBay.
Same like you can't complain about ozbargain if some particular users annoy you, its the users not ozbargain :)
eBay provides a service for a fee. Personally I've have a few problems with their billing for this service. Especially when they've had promotions.
Correct, ebay is a service provider.
I know quite a few who have contacted Fair Trading regarding ebay's actions.
I've been flying AirAsia for nearly a decade I want to say…. Never a complaint from me.
These days I fly with them about four times a month between KL and Melbourne, and an additional 8-12 or so times around SEA each month.
Fly frequently enough that I know some of their sub-contracted ground staff and flight attendants.
Agreed . Me too. I thank Mr. Tony Fernedoz with deepest gratefulness and respect , who makes me can fly frequently between Melbourne and K. L.- always around A $300.00 for a return trip. It is horrific to recall how much I paid for MAS, SIA before the formation of AirAsia (around $1,800.00?).I have been dealing with them for more than ten years happily.
WHat do you do?
Complaints are probably from plebs paying $300 for a round-trip to KL, but expects to be treated as if they paid for a business class fare on Singapore Airlines…
Yeah one of the plebs here. I just expected to be able to get on the flight. Couldn't happen as the check in was understaffed and took well, well over an hour to get through the queue. They just kept my money and told me tough luck is my responsibility to get checked in. And no the airport Wifi wasn't working for web check in and I was in transit so no local phonecard.
I'm sure Air Asia is better if you are used to them and know what to expect, if you are off the grid or new customer and need to ask a question it can be horrible.You can check in online 14 days in advance.
At which airport was this?@Drew22: Kuala Lumpa. re:(You can check in online 14 days in advance), as I said if you know what to expect you can make it work.
I'd never flown Air Asia, never been to Kuala Lumpa and not had reliable internet for over a week. Just followed the instructions on the booking to arrive at check in before a certain time.
Air Asia staff were bad on the next leg at Sabah as well, refused to help when the self check in wouldn't work kept passing me to another staff member at other end of terminal and back. I put in a claim for the tax on my missed flights when I got home which was also an abysmal experience, got a lot of emails not meant for me.How long ago is this?
Was that at the old LCCT airport or the new KLIA2/LCCT?You can get a prepaid 7Gb for like $12 with Hotlink which is right outside customs, their service is really good and better than what I get with Amaysim in Melbourne.
@Drew22: Less than 12 months, KLIA2.
Agreed on the prepaid , and all is good once you know what you are doing and how to prepare and compensate for problems you may encounter. In Kuala Lumpa it would have been better to do Web check as it is a very busy an airport and not staffed well enough to guarantee getting through the check in counter. In Sabah it was a mistake to Web check in as the self check wasn't working for boarding passes and they wouldn't assist me at the check in desk as already checked in.I feel now I could navigate these problems as know what to expect. I know a lot of people who could not, are babes when it comes to traveling and would get the shock of their lives when trying to navigate Air Asia. I also used a couple of the other budget carriers in Asia they were fine. On the plus side the in Airport shuttles at KLIA2 are an excellent idea.
@Drew22: So let me get this straight - your advice for getting around terrible customer service, is to purchase a SIm card at the airport so they can check in via the web portaL? Riiiiiiiiight
@ThithLord:
Uhhh no. That was more to address the whole not having internet while on holiday in Malaysia.@ThithLord: While it's not a good solution it is good advice and the only thing that would have got me on my plane. It's exactly what I would do in hindsight and wish I had have known beforehand.
The problem with Air Asia is simply that they will not take ownership or responsibility of any of the problems caused by their lean service model and their staff don't understand that 'budget service' and bad service are not the same thing.
I believe AirAsia's main complaints are re flight cancelations. In my experience, their flights between Aus and KL are actually quite punctual. Is that your experience as well?
Usually arrive 10-30 minutes early at either end.
They're generally punctual across SEA, sure there are delays and cancelations but that happens with every one.End of June flight from Vancouver got delayed two hours. I made the connecting flight in LA but checked bags didn't. Not something I'd complain about
Can I have your job… Please 😝
Real estate agents are well represented.
But I wonder how much of this represents business popularity and people who don't understand what Fair Trading actually does.
Fair Trading say they only add to the tally if they asses the complaint as valid.
Doesn't control for popularity though. Not that I like any of the companies listed, though.
Is bound to be some relationship to market size. Makes it pretty impressive for big players like Coles (Target/Kmart) to be absent.
@tonka: I reckon this is sign of good management, good training and a good culture at the front line.
My understanding is that to be on this list, Fair Trading believe the company have failed their legal obligations.
There's also factors of expectation, investment and convenience.
You're much more likely to get expensive things or things that cause serious problems in planning your life than relatively trivial purchases. Real estate is one of the most important and expensive things you'll do in your life so if something doesn't go according to expectation or desire then you're much more likely to put in the effort of properly filing a complaint than if, say, Target sold you a non working kettle and wouldn't refund you. Similarly with air travel - people plan their year around a holiday and then Air Asia pulls a bunch of it's flights and now everyone has to spend a bunch of time and/or money to remake those plans - it's stressful in a way that getting a burger that has pickles when you asked for no pickles and the cashier insisting you asked for extra pickles isn't. You're more likely to put in effort formally complaining about one over the other.
looks like mainly complaints about rental tenancies. Not sure if its the vendor complaining or the tenants. My guess its the tenants complaining about maintainence turn around times or something trivial like that.
If you have a quick drill down into the data however, its mostly about tenancy and rentals rather than underquoting
All the scum bag companies are there.
Apple, Ray White, Raine and Horne, Hardly Normal, Grays Online, LJ Hooker are companies I hate with a passion.
Gerry the professional at number 2!
For all his whinging about injustice in the marketplace maybe he should get his own house in order.
Personally I think it's a bit off that he's made himself a billionaire just flipping other peoples products and extorting consumers and cries victim constantly as soon as the market toughens up.
You basically summarised capitalism.
I wish I could +2 this comment.
I noticed your OzB profile that you're new to OzBargain and joined this year.
There are a lot of people who have been terribly hurt by Groupon and other group buying websites.
Here's a sample of OzBargain forum threads about Groupon and ACCC/NSW Fair Trading:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/groupon+accc?t=f
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/Groupon+fair+tradin…A few years ago it was really bad and the Group Buying were the top offenders:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3638138.htmI had my own disastrous experience with Scoopon where I paid $700 for a PADI Open Water scuba diving course with a dodgy operator. Scoopon refused to refund me anything until I was about to contact NSW Fair Trading. Scoopon later improved after the ACCC took them to court:
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/accc-launches-court-…I think Mumbles was just taking the time out to explain why someone would have negged your comment. Nothing hostile and no reason for you to take them to task.
Calculating on my calculator with my facts, accodring to my calcuations you have been a member for precisely 8 almost 9 months, so not even a full year. Ok mr facts?
What is Groupon doing there???
There must have been complaints about unfair trading by Groupon.
The NSW Fair Trading Complaints Register provides information about businesses that are the subject of 10 or more complaints received by Fair Trading in a calendar month.
What is Groupon doing there???
Well, obviously a significant number of people complained about them; if you can't get that fact straight how can we trust anything you say.
Another reason not to buy Apple?
Apple 13 complaints…..
How many transactions do you think Apple carries out in a calendar month?
Well a lot of Apple products are sold by other retailers. Maybe these complaints are about the Apple store?
14?
The last 6 are tied. It makes me wonder how many other people with 10 complaints that didn't make the list because their business names start with letter further down the alphabet.
It is also impressive that Android Enjoyed made top 10 given how small they are. :)
For such a shifty company - "Android Enjoyed is an Mobile phone online store for Australian" (https://www.android-enjoyed.com/about-us) - I imagine they'll take any publicity they can get.
"Australian has much confident dealing with an Top 10 company in Fairtrading register".
I didn't have such a bad experience with Android Enjoyed. I've bought 3 phones (maybe even 4) and an iPod nano from them. The phones all arrived in less than a week. The only problem was the iPod, they were out of the colour I ordered, instead of contacting me to ask what to do they just waited until I called. Once I called them and told them the alternative colour, it arrived in a few days again. All their prices were well below the going rates and I considered them a bargain.
I suspect a lot of these companies are simply the same company with a different web site branding.
I hate Harvey Norman , eBay, Paypal , streeldeal .sg. Be very careful with them.
Adjusts tin foil hat snugly
I must be the only Aussie to never have had an issue with PP. Anytime I've had to resolve a dispute, no worries.
What an interesting list! I was expecting this would basically be a list of the largest companies with the most customers and (unsurprisingly) then the most complaints.
How interesting that real estate agents make up 4 of the top 9 positions.
I'm glad I didn't go through with a recent purchase at Android Enjoyed. Possibly confirms a bit of "too good to be true" in that case … I'd be interested in anyone's experience with them?
The one I'm not really surprised about is Hardly Normal. I've refused to shop there for years. I've always felt very uneasy in there and get the impression is all about "flogging product" with very little assistance available to the customer either pre or post sale.
Regarding android enjoyed, 5 friends recently ordered phones from them. Their standard price is much cheaper than the 'deals' on ozbargain.
4 of the 5 came really quick. 1 took a week longer but they refunded about $20 (since the price had dropped since).
All good so far.
I think complaints occur when it needs to be sent back for warranty purposes.
still haven't processed the refund :(
I am amazed at how small the number of complaints are for some of the companies, how many transaction would Apple, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Flight Centre do a month.
The builders that are on the list I would stay away from, I reckon as a percentage of transactions they are the dodgy ones.
31 complaints for LJ Hooker in the month of July - that's on average one complaint lodged to the government for help per day!
I had a lot of problems with the Barry Plant real estate agency here in Victoria when I was renting years ago. They didn't care about renters one bit. Maybe it's the same with LJ.
This is probably the main reason why LJ took the "prize"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-29/lj-hooker-agents-under…
On Ya Gerry!
Wow. This list has so many real estate agents and home building businesses.
I'm already sad whenever I think how unaffordable houses are.
Just noticed you can drill into the list a bit and seems most of the complaints are about tenancy. I wonder if the complaints are really the responsibility of dodgy landlords.
Reading your title I thought fair trading somehow incorporate themselves and went listed on the ASX
lol Privatization is the thing. Of course 3 months later we'd need a new government department to monitor them and deal with complaints.
Wish Aust Post could be listed as one of top 2!
I'm not worried about HN, LJH or Air Asia.
Their number of transactions/customer base vs complaints would be lower.
I be worried about Zoxoro or Sensis for sure.
I'm suprised that Apple made the top list of the list.
Tiger Airways and Jetstar nowhere in sight!
I'm not surprised by the companies listed.
I don't know if it's telling that two of the retailers listed, Harvey Norman and the The Good Guys, both of them are franchise operated?
But that so many REA's are listed is a bit of a worry.
LG Hooker, you're the best (at receiving fair trading complaints)
No one does it better
Kogan?!?
People already frustrated and exhausted by them, they have no energy left to complain to FT :)
In their defence, they may not be perfect, but every single issue I've ever had with Kogan they've rectified immediately with negligible fuss…a lot of businesses could learn a thing or two about customer service from Ruslan Kogan.
I got immediate promises to fix things, and more promises after that all very polite and immediate and no fuss but no follow through.
@tonka: Hmmm, given that you've effectively just described my current battle with eBay, it seems somebody has been learning vicariously! ;)
Good to see apple made it to the list
And the sensus lolNot "the Census"!
Sensis Pty Ltd - the Yellow Pages shonks.
Oh, my bad
lol Apple
Surprised to see a small company like Android Enjoyed be so bad that they compete with the big boys for # of complaints, but overall I'm surprised that more complaints didn't make it all the way to fair trading with all the dodgy deals out there
I wonder if they count complaints that get resolved immediately after 1st contact before they have to dig into it?
If they don't makes these companies even dodgier.
I'm actually really surprised to see apple on this list.
I've found their warranty process and customer service exceptional.
Then again, as it's been pointed out above, they must make a LOT of transactions, so only having 13 complaints isn't that bad.i also think it's customers who hear of apples customer service and expect it means that they will bend over for anything which is not the case.
they are good but they still have there limits..
Not surprised at Apple and LJ Hooker as I've had fairly negative experiences with them. I don't think anyone sets out to make a bad product or be a jerk but I was really disappointed with how these companies try and resolve issues.
I have had Apple products for years and when I have had any issues Apple have bent over backwards to resolve the issue.
Can you say what negative experience you had with Apple?
I bought a macbook and encountered several issues. This was well over 5 years ago (maybe 7). First issue was trying to claim a warranty under the charger. Apple had said my warranty had expired (this was well before I even bought the notebook). It took a while but I had to send a receipt to an email to "update my date of purchase" as the Apple had started the warranty period from when the store bought the stock, not the consumer (I think this has changed now).
So finally sent the charger in but couldn't get a replacement the same day so I had to return at a later date. Really disappointed I had to make 2 trips. My macbook also started cracking (near the touchpad) which was a fairly common fault. had to make another trip to bring it in to get that replaced under warranty.
I asked about the hard drive in my macbook and whether it was part of the recall (friend had linked me to something online). After checking they said it's part of the recall. I have data (itunes, movies, assignments) on the hard drive so I asked could they clone it to the replacement they replied no it would just have a fresh version of OS). very disappointed. When I asked how long it took to swap the hard drive they said it takes 2 weeks (they have to request a hard drive from a spare parts department and log everything as per applecare). Really disappointed, explained the issues I faced previously to a customer service supervisor (heavy american accent) who said Apple is doing their part, and if I wanted to notebook I could come back in 2 weeks otherwise it's destroyed (they can't have it taking space in the back).
During the time it was off for a hard drive replacement I contacted Apple through their applecare hotline and spoke to someone local who was much nicer. All in all, they got approval to have the notebook sent back my courier to me at their expense. Oh and my might mouse failed (the ball part stopped working, apparently it's pretty common)
TL;DR version,
1// Charger died, tried to claim under warranty, told my warranty expired before I even bought the machine.
2// Had to email apple my invoice to get warranty updated
3// Case started to crack (common fault)
4// HDD was part of recall
5// Mouse ball thing stopped working.I know others have had relatively positive experiences so I'm chalking it down to a dud product and a dud customer service supervisor.
Yep, you did get screwed around.
HDD being wiped is standard with HDD repair/replacement by all manufacturers to be fair.
@BartholemewH:
I don't mind the HDD wipe but was hoping they could transfer my data, specifically my iTunes stuff (didn't have lots of bandwidth at the time). Maybe the macbook was cursed shrugs@Kranbone:
That's what I'm getting at, no manufacturer will transfer your data while in for repair. A lot of people are surprised when they have 'lost everything' upon return of their laptop.Actually when my ACER had a fault, they mirrored the drive and courier'd the notebook back to me.
@Kranbone:
Wow, there you go. I've heard the Acer service centre for Australian warranty was the best of all the locally offered brands.
What complaints do people have with Apple? I've never had an Apple product play up, not a fan boy or anything but their products I have used over the years are solid.
me too~ i love my apple~
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Amazed ebay isn't at the top!