South African Complaint Forums in the Retail Industry: a Survey of Literature and Some Lessons from the EU

South African consumers receiving poor service in the retail industry want to complain, but have limited or no knowledge of the available consumer complaint forums. The consumer complaint forums in the retail industry can generally be divided into those established in terms of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 and other complaint forums. Before consumers can decide which forum they want to lodge their complaint with, they first need to identify possible complaint forums and then measure each forum according to certain factors. This study made a unique contribution by identifying possible factors which a consumer can refer to in this regard. In developing these factors, guidance was taken from the EU Consumer ADR Directive and the ODR Regulation. The factors suggested in this study included the following: the cost of and time spent on lodging a complaint, the effective functioning of the complaint forum, transparency in the operation of the complaint forum, the relief that a consumer may obtain from the complaint forum, and the user-friendliness of the complaint process. The National Consumer Tribunal, the National Consumer Commission, the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, and ordinary civil courts were assessed using the above factors. A limitation of this study was that not all complaint forums could be assessed in terms of these factors, due to the lack of publicly available information. This study found that even though South Africans now have more complaint forums at their disposal, this does not translate into positive outcomes for aggrieved consumers. The strength of these forums lies in the buy-in received from both consumers and retailers. True consumer power arises through collective action after careful investigation, and resolving individual complaints may not result in the change of consumer policy which is actually what is required in the long run.