More Irish consumers complaining, says NCA report

Nine out of 10 Irish consumers who had cause to complain about a purchase in the past year did so, according to figures released today.

Research by the National Consumer Agency (NCA) also found that 93% of those complaints were either partially or wholly resolved to the customers’ satisfaction.

The research also showed that 85% of consumers are willing to complain if something goes wrong and of those who have, 78% stated that they found the complaints process somewhat or very easy.

"Today’s results point to an important shift in the dynamic between consumers and the businesses that serve them," said NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald.

"Previously, we saw a greater reluctance to complain – in 2008 just seven in 10 dissatisfied consumers actually did anything about their retail problems, whereas today more than 90% of consumers tell us that they did make a complaint where a product or service was not to their satisfaction.

"Most encouragingly for those consumers, 93% of them had their complaint either partially or wholly resolved.

"As consumer confidence and knowledge of their rights increases, we are seeing this feed through into positive complaints behaviour. Complaints can be an excellent test of standards of customer service and good traders should welcome them. We are happy to see the very high levels of complaints resolution reported."

Almost four in five (78%) consumers now declare themselves confident of their consumer rights, up from fewer than three in four (73%) a year ago; while just one in 10 (10%), down from almost one in five (18%) in June 2010, now declare themselves not to be confident in this area.

Significantly, whereas 15% of consumers reported that they did not feel protected as regards their consumer rights in June 2010, this number had almost halved to 8% by May/June 2011.

The research was conducted by means of face-to-face interviewing with 1,000 people between the ages of 15-74 by Amárach Research.