Consumer Council says Norwegians complain mostly about the car, banking and housing

housingHousing.Photo: Pixabay

Norwegian consumers make most complaints about their cars, banking, and housing.

The Consumer Organizations that receive complaints include the Consumer Council, the Consumer Ombudsman, the Consumer Disputes Commission, the Market Advice Council, the European Consumer Centre, and 14 separate complaint boards.

Overall, these organizations received 32,396 complaints in 2016, an increase of 8.6% to the figures from 2015. There were particularly many complaints about automobiles, banking, and insurance.

‘It is clear that parking causes problems for people, as there were an abundance of complaints to the Parking Appeals Board. Used-Car purchases are also something people often get stuck with’, said consumer director, Randi Flesland.

Within banking, it was mainly insurance that was difficult, but also health and accident insurance, and change of ownership appeals.

The last of the three high complaint groups were about housing related costs. Here, both appraisers and agencies were represented, but the predominant complaint record was for craftsman services.

‘We see that Norwegian consumers often encounter difficulties when it comes to trade services, but we also see that building materials, furniture, and painting and decorating are the cause of relatively large amounts of complaint mail.

Flights, Communication Services and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are also problematic areas for Norwegian consumers. The complaints about flights had increased by 44 % between 2015 and 2016,’ said Flesland.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today