Consumer complaints rising

Rights violations have compounded sufferings of consumers in Bangladesh, with the number of complaints rising a staggering 61 per cent in the span of a year.

Consumers lodged 14,764 complaints with the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) in fiscal 2020-21, up from 9,195 complaints a year ago. In fiscal 2018-19, the DNCRP received 7,515 complaints from consumers on various grounds.

With the latest figure, the directorate recorded a total of 47,738 complaints since fiscal year 2013-14.

The spike in consumer complaints is mainly due to growing awareness on how the relevant authorities can address their issues, Bablu Kumar Saha, director general of the DNCRP, told The Daily Star.

"Another reason is a recent rise in online retail fraudulence," he said.

However, a majority, or 44,630 complaints, have been resolved while 6,935 entities have been penalised.

Although the directorate officials have intensified the drives they regularly conduct in markets across the country, the plight of customers continues to rise. The directorate officials also fined many entities over different consumer rights violations, including sale of goods, medicine or services at a price higher than the fixed rate.

Other breaches include sale of adulterated and counterfeit goods, medicine and food, food processed under unhygienic conditions, tampering with weights and withholding retail prices.

"We are deprived of our rights as we face different types of problems while buying products and services," said Delwar Hossain, a resident of the capital.

"Recently, I wanted an imported item but there was no mention of the maximum retail price on the cover. So I had to pay the price fixed by the shop owner," he said last week.

The Daily Star on August 19 witnessed one of the market monitoring drives conducted daily y Magfur Rahman, an assistant director of the directorate.

The team found some date-expired medicines at Belle Vue Pharm in the capital's Shahbagh.

Following further investigation, the pharmacy's owner, Zafar Iqbal, was fined Tk 40,000 under Section 51 of  the Consumers' Right Protection Act 2009. He was also issued a warning.

Iqbal told The Daily Star that he was having to get by with just a handful of employees for the pandemic.

"I am tidying up the shop on recently opening after a lockdown. I could not remove the date-expired medicines from the shelves. I will not do this again in the future and will be careful from now on," he said.

In another drive, a mobile team led by Assistant Director Abdul Jabbar Mandal went to Palash Enterprise on the second floor of Karwan Bazar kitchen market in the capital.

The shop was found selling imported olive oil whose containers had no label mentioning the price, expiration date and name of the importer.

The shop's owner, Harun Rashid, was fined Tk 5,000. He said each container was priced Tk 1,250 and that the importer was at fault for not putting any label.

"If we find any violation of the act, we fine the businesses and try our best to make the traders do business while obeying the rules," said Mandal.

The directorate's monitoring drives are now 70 times more frequent than what it was in fiscal 2010-11.

In fiscal 2020-21, there were 11,953 market drives, through which 22,996 entities were fined a total of Tk 13.36 crore.

"Our job is to uphold the rights of consumers and protect their interests at the highest level. We also prioritise settlements between consumers and business owners," said Director General Saha.

He also stressed on raising awareness of consumers and urged to be wary of hefty discounts and to secure confirmation over the authenticity of businesses.

"A trader knows what kind of rules he has to follow. Despite that, why do businesspeople not follow the rules and not give a thought to their organisation's reputation?" asked Prof Md Mizanur Rahman.

"Because there is a lack of good governance in Bangladesh," explained the chairman of the marketing department at the University of Dhaka.

"So, traders do not pay attention to following the rules of law and don't try to protect the interests of their customers," he said.

If the authority, such as the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, properly performed its tasks, there would not be so many complaints, he said.

"The problem is in the whole system of the country. The system needs to be reshuffled. Otherwise, the suffering of consumers will increase further," he added.

According to Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, the number of complaints was very negligible compared to the actual number of acts of fraudulence perpetrated by traders.

"Consumers in our country are not aware of their rights. If a consumer gets cheated, it is taken to be fate," he said.

"However, consumers are becoming more aware now compared to what they were 10 years ago. That's the positive thing. The more consumers become aware, the more traders will refrain from misdeeds," said Rahman.