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)