Georgian Consumer Agency: 890 applications processed, 90% of cases ruled in consumers’ favour in 2024

The Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency on Tuesday said it had looked into 890 applications and answered 6,350 calls throughout 2024, ruling  in favour of consumers in 90 percent of them.

In its summary of the year’s numbers, it added 70 percent of those who submitted complaints had been female and 30 male during the year.

The GCCA said it had confirmed 102 violations of consumer rights across 198 cases, while 56 businesses faced non-compliance fines amounting to a total of ₾60,000 ($21,203) in 92 cases.

Additionally, in 193 cases, 163 agreements were reached that benefited consumers, the Agency said, with the businesses taking commitments to change their internal business practices and restore the rights of consumers who were presumably harmed by their trading policies.

A closer look at the nature of complaints reveals the majority of user requests - 67 percent - pertained to online shopping, while 33 percent were related to in-store purchases. The capital city of Tbilisi accounted for 85 percent of all complaints, followed by western regions of Adjara at four percent and Imereti at three percent.

Specific areas of consumer concern included refund requests (317), defective products (253), restoration of defective services (147), timely delivery (47), unconditional returns (37), and the prohibition of misleading practices (35), among others.

Furthermore, data indicated the wholesale and retail trade sector was the predominant source of complaints, making up 73 percent of cases, while transport and warehousing accounted for 12 percent, and arts, entertainment, and recreation contributed three percent.