Lodging Complaints Now A Breeze With E Aduan

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KOTA BARU: Lodging complaints about product prices by consumers have been a complicated and tedious process in the past, often requiring physical trips to government offices.
This no longer is the case, thanks to the recent introduction of the e-Aduan system by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry, one of the efforts under the Bureaucratic Red Tape Reform.
With the e-Aduan system consumers only need to send photos, receipts and information on the location through Whatsapp, or the ezAdu app to ensure that action will be taken against errant traders or businesses.
Allowing the public to lodge complaints easily and quickly, makes all the difference in Kelantan, which has a population of over 1.7 million but with only 142 enforcement officers to monitor over 100,000 business premises.
The ministry's Kelantan director Azman Ismail said the system allows complaints to be recorded directly and channeled directly to enforcement officers for immediate action, and initial action can be taken in four to five hours during working hours, and most complaints are resolved within 48 hours depending on the type of case and information received, he told Bernama recently.
"The ministry recorded 838 complaints (in Kelantan) in the first 10 months this year, most involving sale prices exceeding control (prices), the lack of price tags and deceptive price of food," Azman said, pointing out that in terms of enforcement, digital proof such as sale receipts allow action to be taken on site.
Consumer complaints also functioned as early indicators that assist the ministry in focusing on high-risk cases without conducting time-consuming random checks, he added.
The Kelantan public has seemed to embrace the change, and many consumers, like housewife Siti Farhana, 29, find the system to be a time-saver as they can lodge complaints from home.
"Previously, lodging complaints required us to go to the office and filling up forms. Now you just take a photo and send it in WhatsApp.
"It saves time and you don't need to neglect your personal matters," she said, while lorry driver Mohd Firdaus Ismail, 45, said the swift action taken against any price violation has had a positive impact on consumers and businesses.
"When complaints can be made directly via phone, action becomes faster.
"This makes businesses more disciplined and consumers protected," he said.
The positive impact is not limited to consumers, said grocer Ahmad Zulkifli, 52, who pointed out that swift action based on digital complaints would help create an environment of fair competition.
"When enforcement officers act swiftly using digital complaints, business that obey the rules feel more justified. It helps us avoid competing with businesses that raise prices on purpose," he said.– Bernama

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