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Poor home renovations, umrah packages and faulty goods top list of complaints

PETALING JAYA: Complaints involving house renovations, umrah travel packages and electrical appliances topped the list of claims at the Tribunal for Consumer Claims Malaysia (TCCM) last year.

TCCM secretary Nor Hafizah Haron said claims on renovations accounted for 808 cases, followed by 740 and 477 cases on the travel packages and electrical appliances, respectively.

Claims on house renovations were a constant feature over the past three years, topping the list with 757 cases in 2022 and 427 in 2021.

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Nor Hafizah said in 2022, the other main claims involved electrical products and vehicle repairs at 442 and 388 cases, respectively.

“Electrical products and mobile phones were also in the top three list of claims in 2021 at 306 and 265 cases respectively,” she told The Star.

Set up in November 1999, TCCM provides consumers with an alternative to civil courts for speedy redress at minimal cost.

Nor Hafizah said in 2023, it awarded a total of RM26.8mil in claims filed, followed by RM9.2mil in 2022 and RM6.4mil in 2021.

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She said some of the other common claims filed involved mobile phones and vehicle repairs.

She also said consumers could file claims for products and services if they were for personal use.

Under the products category, claims could be made for items such as mobile phones, jewellery, electrical appliances, furniture, vehicle spare parts and computers, she added.

“For the services category, consumers can file cases involving vehicle repairs, house renovation, employment, tourism agencies, wedding packages and so on,” she said.

In 2023, TCCM handled 11,426 cases, compared with 10,525 in 2022 and 7,422 cases in 2021.

The biggest claim awarded to a consumer last year was RM50,000, although TCCM declined to elaborate. The smallest claim awarded last year amounted to RM9.