Customers flood YLKI with complaints about TV Media

Customers flood YLKI with complaints about TV Media

JAKARTA (JP): Disappointed customers have flooded the
Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) with complaints about
shoddy goods and late delivery of TV Media products.

Foundation chief Tini Hadad told The Jakarta Post Saturday the
customers claim that the products they receive are different from
the ones that TV Media advertises.

A TV Media marketing officer, Linda, said on Saturday she
could not comment on the consumer foundation's report. She said
TV Media executives were unavailable.

"All of the executives are not here, some of them are
traveling abroad," she said.

Tini said the most common complaint is about late delivery.

"The advertisement promises that the consumers will receive
the particular goods within two weeks, but in reality some
consumers receive them very late," Tini said.

Tini said the consumer foundation found that TV Media's agents
blamed the post office and other package-forwarding companies for
late delivery.

The foundation's consumer complaint division official,
Sudaryatmo, said that TV Media's agents should not blame the
postal and delivery services if orders don't get to their
customers on time.

"They should have estimated how long it would take the goods
to reach the customers," he told the Post.

Sudaryatmo also said that some customers complained that the
quality of products they received are different from what TV
Media advertises on television.

"The ads offer American-made products, but the consumers
received Taiwan-made ones," he said.

Sudaryatmo also criticized the after-sales services for TV
Media products. "It's not clear who is responsible for after-
sales services of the products; the agent here or the
manufacturers," he said.

"If it's the agent who is responsible for the after-sales
services, they don't have enough knowledge of the products
because all of the items sold are imported products," Sudaryatmo
said.

Citing an example, he said that one of the consumers
complained about the set of Sumi knives advertised by TV Media.
The customer reported that the agent refused to replace knives
broken during use.

"The agent simply said that they are not responsible for the
extra knives," Sudaryatmo said.

Rajawali Citra Televisi (RCTI)'s spokesman Murdyadi Ichsan
said the stations which broadcast the advertisements for the
products should not be held responsible for the consumers'
complaints about TV Media.

"We only broadcast advertisements which have already been
approved by the Film Censorship Institute. So, if there are some
complaints about the advertisements, don't blame the media,"
Murdyadi told The Jakarta Post.

He said that if the agent of the products is facing lawsuits
from consumers, or they are proven to have deceived consumers,
"We will withdraw the advertisements without hesitation. No
problem," Murdyadi said. "But, as long as there is no lawsuit
against a TV Media agent, it's impossible to refuse ads," he
said.

He said that television stations cannot conduct tests on
products. "YLKI, as the foundation for consumers, is the one that
should test the products, not the TV stations," Sudaryatmo said.

Tini said she believed that the people who filed complaints
about TV Media products with the consumers foundation represent
only a few of those who have similar problems.

"Indonesian consumers are not used to this kind of shopping
method, ordering the products through television, and they just
accept whatever condition of the products they get," Tini said.

In other countries, shopping through television never presents
much difficulty, she said. "Maybe because the consumers are more
educated than here, so the producers don't dare to cheat them."

Tini said the consumer foundation has yet to determine if the
quality of the products sold by TV Media here is lower than that
of items sold in other countries, or in the country where the
products are manufactured.

Indonesian consumers are generally willing to buy products
they have never seen before, Tini said. She suggested that in
order to avoid being disappointed, people should go to the TV
Media showrooms before they decide to buy. (31)