Consumer Protection Agency reviews 578 complaints, opens 340 cases in 14 months

The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency of Georgia on Monday said it had received 578 complaints on violations of consumer rights between November 2022 and January 2024 and opened cases on 340 of the submissions.

From the submissions, the body established violations of rights of consumers in 84 cases, with seven complaints dismissed. The inquiries also led to 11 traders being fined ₾21,283 ($7,912) in 22 cases for failures to fulfil obligations imposed by the Agency.

The body also reached 98 agreements in favour of consumers in 161 cases of alleged violations, with ₾500,000 ($185,896) issued in reimbursements.

Agreements were reached with traders to change internal business policies and restore rights of consumers who were allegedly harmed, it noted and added fulfilment of the obligations would be “actively monitored”.

The Agency said 64 percent of applications received from consumers were related to online shopping, with 36 percent related to in-store deals. 

A majority of complaints - 85 percent - were received from the capital city of Tbilisi, followed by the Black Sea region of Adjara with six percent and the western region of Imereti with five percent.

Consumers requested the following types of measures in their submissions:

• In 202 cases - repair or replacement of goods not in conformity with the contract
• In 197 cases - return of payment
• In 49 cases - prohibition of misleading activities
• In 32 cases - unconditional return of goods
• In 21 cases - provision of information in the Georgian language
• In 21 cases - on-time delivery
• In 56 cases - other types of requests

In the reporting period, the wholesale and retail sector accounted for 67 percent of the registered complaints, followed by transport and warehousing (16 percent), arts, crafts, entertainment and recreation (five percent), construction (three percent), and other activities (nine percent).