Online orders and their deliveries continue to soar, especially with COVID-19 still keeping shoppers at home. Businesses now often guarantee (instead of estimate) delivery times to attract customers – from “ships within 5-7 business days” to “delivers in 10 minutes” – these fast delivery claims are usually made by online businesses to win customers over their competitors. All is well until a delivery falls behind schedule…
Consumers are increasingly aware of businesses’ trade claims, especially if they are used as slogans or form the main reason for shopping at that particular store. In Hong Kong, 59% (2020) and 71% (2019) of consumer complaints from consumers related to services. Complaints relating to storage, postal and courier services are on the rise from 331 cases in 2019 to 696 cases in 2020, and have reached 556 cases already in the first 10 months of 2021. While guaranteeing fast delivery times may entice customers, it could be “criminally” dangerous for businesses if they do not live up to their claims and could attract investigations from regulators.
There are many ways a delivery claim can be caught as a criminal offence under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance in Hong Kong:
As traders and business owners:
In summary, businesses should put in place the appropriate protections to safeguard their reputations and in turn, maximise customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Authored by Eugene Low and Charmaine Kwong.
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