If your washing machine breaks down before the claim period expires, you can complain today free of charge to the Consumer Complaints Committee. Now the Ministry of Children and Families is proposing to introduce an appeal fee of NOK 1,243. If the repair of the washing machine costs less than NOK 5,000, the government wants you to no longer be able to complain to the Consumer Complaints Committee at all. The only solution would therefore be to go to court, with high legal fees, even if it were a pair of trousers for NOK 500. This is completely unheard of, believes the Consumer Council, which fears that the proposal will hit ordinary consumers hard, while the shops get away cheaper. – It weakens consumer protection, and makes it difficult for those who have the least. It should obviously be put back in the drawer, or ideally scrapped completely, says director of the Consumer Council, Inger Lise Blyverket. WARNING: Director of the Consumer Council, Inger Lise Blyverket, warns against raising the complaint limit and introducing a “complaint fee”. Want to reduce the processing time Imagine that you have bought a vacuum cleaner for NOK 4,999, and after a short time it breaks. You go to the store and complain, but they refuse to help you. Until now, you have been able to complain completely free of charge to the Consumer Complaints Committee. If the Ministry of Children and Families gets their way, you can no longer complain about goods or services under NOK 5,000. And if you complain, it will cost you NOK 1,243. As the Consumer Council has read the proposal, you will also not get the complaint fee back if the complaint is approved by the committee. CASE PROCESSING TIME: Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe says that the proposal has been put forward to reduce the 25-month long case processing time. Photo: NTB The background for the proposal is to reduce the number of complaints sent to the Consumer Complaint Committee, where the waiting time is currently around two years. – Our starting point is to clean things up so that the possibility of complaints becomes real and more resources are used on the economically important cases, and the trivial ones are removed, says Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe. The Consumer Council warns against raising the complaint limit and introducing a “complaint fee”. – Many consumers are already reluctant to complain. Introducing fees and value limits raises this threshold significantly, according to the Lead Agency. The Consumer Council also fears that the proposal could make it risk-free for business to put “lousy goods on the market”. Negative consequences The proposal has provoked strong reactions. Both the Norwegian Consumer Council and the Nature Conservation Association believe that consumers’ rights will be greatly weakened. The latter also believes that the proposal will affect the environmental campaign. – This is in practice a free pass for industries that want to put cheap and bad products on the market, and that have a large environmental footprint, says leader of the Nature Conservation Association, Truls Gulowsen to news. At Ringo at Strømmen Storsenter, general manager Magnus Syvertsen shows almost two completely identical electric cars for children. LIKE: The yellow car costs NOK 4,999, while the yellow one costs NOK 5,999. If the government gets its way, you will no longer be able to complain if the yellow car is destroyed. Photo: Marit Sirum-Eikre / news The yellow one costs 4999.90, while the red one costs 5999.90. THE CUSTOMER IS RIGHT: Magnus Syvertsen is general manager at Ringo. He believes that the customer should always be right, and that everyone benefits from the customer’s right to complain. – Here you have a product that falls outside the rules, and here you have a product that falls within, says Syvertsen as he shows off the cars. Syvertsen believes that everyone benefits from the fact that the customer can complain and has a body to deal with. – This means that you get rid of non-serious players who do not comply with the rules. Business must take responsibility Both NHO and Virke agree with the ministry’s proposal. – We agree that a case processing fee is introduced and that a value limit is set. But we do not have views on which fee sizes and thresholds should be set so that the goal of the changes is reached as effectively as possible. That is what NHO writes in its consultation response to the government. The Consumer Council agrees that the long processing time is unacceptable and that something must be done – but believes the ministry is starting at the wrong end. – The ministry should reverse the proposal and instead impose fees on business for cases that end up with the Consumer Complaint Committee. After all, they are the ones who sell the products complained about, says Blyverket. If you are dissatisfied with what you have bought, you can always complain to the store. It is if you do not agree that the case ends up with the Consumer Complaint Committee. The center director at Strømmen Storsenter believes that the aim of the merchandise trade should be that as few cases as possible should be considered in the committee. – We believe in dialogue between customer and seller in the store. Our mantra is that good service always pays, says Per Kristian Trøen. DIALOGUE: Per Kristian Trøen, Center Director at Strømmen Storsenter, believes that retail should focus on dialogue between the customer and the store. Pictured here with Inger Lise Blyverket.
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Will stop the possibility to complain about purchases under NOK 5,000 – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
