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The profession was high on the list of sectors that generated consumer grievances in Queensland in 2021, with the state’s Office of Fair Trading recording yet another year of elevated complaints.
Dealings with real estate agents (excluding resident letting agents) prompted 1,133 complaints across the state during 2021 – the fourth-highest number behind issues with personal and household goods, personal and household services, and motor vehicle sales.
All in all, 18,521 consumer complaints were received in 2021, which is on par with 2020’s 18,698 and well above the average of around 15,000 per year received in the five years before COVID-19.
Commissioner for Fair Trading’s Victoria Thomson said the agency was able to put more than $10 million back in Queenslanders’ pockets over the year through their dispute resolution process.
“I’m hopeful that increased consumer awareness and businesses learning to adjust the way they deal with consumer issues during the pandemic will see a downward trend in consumer complaints in the coming years,” Ms Thomson said.
“Businesses should remember the importance of keeping consumers aware of what is happening with the services they have requested. Not returning calls or failing to keep consumers up to date can lead to a great deal of unnecessary anxiety and stress.”
Ms Thomson is particularly looking for a reversal in the skyrocketing level of complaints received over personal and household services.
“Complaints in this category, which include repairs to whitegoods, removalist services, cleaning, gardening and landscaping services, have more than doubled from 1,523 in 2020 to 3,268 in 2021,” she noted.
Ms Thomson theorised that the steep rise in this category was due in large part to an increase in people spending more time at home and looking to contract out upgrades or fixes in their living space.
“In many cases the complaints we have received in this area could have been avoided if the service providers had communicated with their customers in a timely fashion,” she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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