Consumers’ prepayment losses more than quadruple to S$1.9 million in 2024: Case
Renovation contractor industry accounts for the highest amount of losses, at about S$728,000
CONSUMERS lost about S$1.9 million in prepayments in 2024 as a result of the sudden closure of businesses becoming unresponsive after these spenders had parted with their cash.
This was more than quadruple the prepayment losses of S$476,000 reported in 2023, said the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) on Thursday (Feb 6).
The renovation contractor industry accounted for the highest amount of losses – about S$728,000 – slightly more than a third of the year’s sum. This mostly stemmed from contractors becoming uncontactable during the renovation process, leaving some consumers with incomplete homes.
The bridal industry came in second, with losses of about S$284,000, or close to 15 per cent of the total. This was mainly due to the sudden closure of wedding company Love Nest and its related entities in April last year.
The customers of movers lost slightly more than S$134,000 in payments they had made upfront, due to large items that went undelivered and the loss of belongings during the moving.
Case president Melvin Yong said that the association is concerned about the sharp increase in prepayment losses.
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Citing the renovation industry, he noted that all the cases where consumers lost their prepayments and deposits were a result of their patronising non-CaseTrust accredited contractors.
“Consumers are advised to engage CaseTrust-accredited companies whenever the purchase involves large prepayments because these companies buy insurance to protect (their) interest,” he added.
Spike in complaints
The association received 14,236 complaints in 2024, 2 per cent more than the 13,991 complaints in 2023.
The motorcar industry remained at the top, with 1,306 complaints. Of these, more than a third (about 35 per cent) were related to car sharing and car leasing, slightly higher than the 33 per cent in the prior year.
The electrical and electronics industry was second in terms of number of complaints lodged. The beauty industry was third with 1,199 complaints.
Even though the renovation contractor industry recorded the most prepayment losses, the number of complaints against them fell to 962 in 2024, from 1,168 in 2023. About 97 per cent of these complaints were against non-CaseTrust accredited contractors.
The entertainment sector posted a significant spike in number of complaints to 798, a 281 per cent increase from the 209 in 2023. The jump was mainly attributed to the botched Singapore Sky Lantern Festival in February 2024, as well as ticket scalping.
With the growing popularity of online shopping, e-commerce complaints spiked to 4,641 cases last year, up by a quarter on the year.
Yong noted that complaints in this category “have reached an all-time high”, surpassing the peak in 2020 that was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.
While complaints have gone up in number, Yong said the association has partnered e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada to put in place a dispute resolution framework.
“Complaints involving these platforms have a high resolution rate of around 90 per cent.”
He added that the association will continue working with other platforms to provide consumers with better protection when shopping online.
In 2024, about 80 per cent of cases that Case was authorised to negotiate with businesses were resolved. This was a 4 per cent improvement from 2023, and was also the association’s highest resolution rate in the past five years.
Yong pointed out that more needs to be done to better protect consumers shopping online, and more safeguards are needed for sectors that collect large prepayments.
“Case will engage the government on the need to update our laws, work with our stakeholders to improve consumer education, and take steps to tackle industry-specific concerns.”
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