Moses Uwagbale
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) called for improved services to customers by companies and various businesses through better feedback and complaints resolution mechanism.
Mr Babatunde Irukera, the Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC said in Abuja on Sunday that this would be achieved through the commission’s complaint resolution platform.
The executive vice chairman frowned at the length of time usually spent by some companies before resolving their customers’ complaints.
He noted that hooking up to the commission’s complaint platform would help companies to easily see and resolve complaints from their customers.
Irukera said that the commission’s complaint resolution team was a small one, adding that it was currently overwhelmed with consumers complaints which was supposed to be handled by companies.
“Let the companies start taking more responsibilities to educate consumers by advising their customers about their rights, that is a very big part of consumer education.
“We believe that it is the most effective ways to reach all the way down because it means that wherever their products can reach, then the people will find where to complain when they are dissatisfied with their products.
“Two years ago, we created a complaints resolution platform and part of last year, we were doing pilot test to get in companies to log into the system so that the complaint resolution system is more efficient and timely.
“Some of the pilot companies we have done have shown some promise so in 2021, we are hopeful that more companies will come into the platform.
“We look forward to expanding that, that is a very big area of resolving complaints quickly. The commission is not doing badly with time for resolving complaints but we still need to reduce the time it takes
“When companies key into the platform, the amount of time it takes to communicate them and hear back from them is reduced. You cannot just take a decision against a company without hearing from them,’’ he explained.
Irukera said that the commission would also monitor how different companies carry on their businesses to be sure they were not constituting a problem and preventing fair competition in the market.
