Complaints against merchants rise

A field trip by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper confirmed that the Communication Center of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has received 24,000 complaints since June this year. This indicates a rise of 4,000 complaints per month against 750 complaints for the same period last year.
Officials at the center attribute this increase to the technological development in means of communications, in addition to the increasing number of observers and the undertaking of their duties seriously.
This development in work mechanisms of supervision began when Tawfeeq Al-Rabiah, minister of commerce and industry, began developing and supporting control mechanisms to achieve aspirations of consumers in order for justice to prevail.
Social media sites such as Twitter showed that users think highly of the ministry's work, Minister Al-Rabiah in particular, as they follow up on every measure in this regard.
The center works around the clock to receive complaints. The work of a large number of employees is divided in four shifts. They use highly technological means to record every phone call. After that, the calls are transferred to field observers for more assurance and documentation.
According to complaints by region, Riyadh registered the highest with 38.75 percent. It was followed by Jeddah (14.87 percent), Dammam (7.35 percent), Abha (5.24 percent), Makkah (3.97 percent), Madinah (3.71 percent) and Taif (3.34 percent).
The complaints varied from high prices (14,600 complaints) to commercial fraud (9,000) and commercial concealment (109).
Fahad Al-Jalajel, vice minister of commerce and industry, said the ministry established a department for field control and supervision with directions of from a royal decree to support the work of the ministry to control market. Field teams of the ministry are provided with cars equipped with the most the latest technological means of communications.