KOTA KINABALU – The Kota Kinabalu branch of the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TTPM) has instructed a wedding planner to refund RM6,590 to a customer within 14 days, in view of the vendor’s “non-refundable deposit” term being unfair to the consumer.
The customer had made an advance payment of RM7,090 out of the RM9,090 total package for a wedding ceremony which was supposed to take place in April 2020.
However, as a result of the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) by the government from March 18 last year, the wedding had to be postponed to June 2020 – and subsequently, the customer decided to cancel the wedding and asked for the advance to be returned.
The business owner did not agree and referred to the terms in the invoice which said: “Deposits are not refundable for any cancellation made before the wedding day except for unexpected things to happen”.
The tribunal president had reviewed the invoice provided by the business owner to the consumer at the time of booking and found that the cost stated in the invoice in question was not the same as the cost of loss stated by the business owner.
The business owner also failed to submit payment receipts for costs.
After taking into account the evidence from the business owner, the tribunal decided that the cost of losses of RM500 should be considered and that the remaining RM6,590 be refunded to the consumer.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry Sabah office director Georgie Abas said the TTPM hears claims filed for redemption cases for the purchase of goods and services for matters permitted under the Consumer Protection Act 1999, for total claim amounts not exceeding RM50,000.
He said the TTPM was established as an alternative channel other than civil courts for consumers to claim compensation with respect to the purchase of goods or services supplied from traders or service providers in an easy, cheap, and fast manner.
For the year 2020, a total of 146 claims have been filed in the Sabah TTPM, where the top five classifications of claims were claims regarding mobile phones (28 cases); claims related to umrah/haj packages (19 cases); claims against travel agencies (14 cases); claims regarding home renovation (10 cases); and claims against car workshops (9 cases).
In the same year, the classification of the most claims that have been awarded were claims related to umrah/haj packages (15 cases) with a total award of RM99,995; of these, 14 cases have already been awarded. – The Vibes, March 20, 2021
