Group Buy Customer Complaints Exploded in 2011

Group buy sites have been naughty this year

Group buying sites in China haven’t been having a great time, and apparently neither have their customers. Beijing’s Industry and Commerce Department revealed recently that e-commerce complaints account for nearly thirty percent of all the complaints they received this year, and group buying complaints have exploded; the department received twenty-eight times more complaints about group buying sites this year.

Of course, part of the reason is that the group buying sector has itself, exploded over the past year. While the group buying concept certainly enjoyed some popularity in China in 2010, it didn’t really hit its full stride until early 2011.

The complaints received by the department run the gamut from allegations about unfulfilled promises to slow shipping, flawed products, etc.

Yesterday, more than twenty e-commerce companies including Vancl, 55tuan, and 360buy publicly promised to improve customer service by responding to complaints quickly, actively providing customers with receipts and purchase information, and refraining from false advertising and selling counterfeit products.

[China News Web via Sina Tech, image source]