No. of Consumer Complaints Down 3% in Taipei 去年北市消費申訴案略降3% 仍全國之冠

Online shopping was a way of life during the epidemic. Taipei City lodged the highest number of consumer complaints among all municipalities last year with over 18,000. Online and television shopping disputes ranked first, while art and performance and travel disputes entered the top five categories for the first time.

Taipei City received 18,753 consumer complaints in 2022, the most in Taiwan although the number was a 3 percent decrease from the year before. Of this number, 3,054 involved online and television purchases.

Yang Li-ping, Consumer Protection Official, Dept. of Legal Affairs, Taipei: “Most disputes are over defective items. There are very clear regulations governing custom-made items and perishable products. The seven-day return period doesn't apply to these.”

Transportation disputes ranked second with 1,724 complaints, followed by delivery platform disputes with 1,319; art and performance disputes with 1,195; online gaming disputes with 986; and travel disputes with 842. The Taipei City Department of Legal Affairs says the lifting of restrictions in the post-pandemic era and the resumption of large-scale events and the spike in entertainment spending caused disputes in the "art and performance" and "travel" categories to enter the top five for the first time.

Yang Li-ping, Consumer Protection Official, Dept. of Legal Affairs, Taipei: “In the case of a consumer that subscribed to (a delivery platform), they found that they still had to pay a transaction fee on every order even if their orders met the original threshold. The consumer wanted to cancel their subscription. If we're talking about disputes involving international travel agencies, they're often due to overseas operators not being able to deal with a dispute in an effective or reasonable manner.”

Under online shopping platform management regulations promulgated by Taipei last November, online platforms are held responsible for the actions of individual sellers and required to have transaction verification and consumer dispute resolution mechanisms in place.

打開手機、電腦，只要看看圖片動手指，不用出門就能輕鬆購物，真的好方便。但北市法務局公布，北市111年一整年消費申訴案件，雖然比110年略降3%，但仍有1萬8753件居全國之冠。其中最多的還是網路電視購物類，有3054件。

北市法務局消保官楊麗萍說明：「最多的爭議，仍然是比較偏向於瑕疵的部分的問題。依消費者的需求量身訂做的這個商品、具有保鮮期的這種產品，都有明文的規定，消費者就沒有這個7天猶豫期的權利，會有一些認知上的差距。」

除了網購糾紛外，運輸類共1724件，又以外送平台類為大宗，有1319件；藝文展演（含表演、展覽）類，共1195件；線上遊戲類共986件；旅遊類842件。法務局分析，隨著後疫情時代來臨、管制政策鬆綁、大型戶外活動 ，休閒娛樂消費增加，導致「藝文展演類」及「旅遊類」近年首度擠身前5大爭議件數。

北市法務局消保官楊麗萍指出：「原本已經有購買（外送平台）訂閱制的消費者，他購買餐點即使到達原本的門檻，他仍然每筆要交付平台費，消費者提出想要退出訂閱制。如果在這樣子跨國的訂房平台上面，訂房發生糾紛的話，國外的業者常常沒有辦法有效率的、很合理的來處理，消費者的申訴會比較多。」

法務局表示，為有效管理網路購物平台業者，已於去年11月18日訂定發布《北市網路購物平台管理辦法》，要求平台業者應管理平台賣家，並建立交易確認及消費爭議處理等機制，提升網購交易安全及保障消費者權益。