CAC secures $27.7 million in payouts for consumers

The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) secured $27.74 million in payouts for consumers over the period April 2019 to March 2020.

The commission says for the period, it received 1,645 complaints of which 1,377 cases led to compensation.

The disclosure was made by the agency in its annual report which was tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The top consumer complaint categories were electrical equipment and appliances which accounted for 30.15 per cent and utilities with 15.95 per cent.

The biggest refund category was automotive at $9.18 million being refunded.

The ‘other services’ category was a distant second with $5.7 million in payouts.

That sector includes medical, laundry, hair, and finance.

Meanwhile, the report highlighted rates and fees in the banking sector.

Jamaica National (JN) was observed as the commercial bank with the highest number of services with the lowest rates and fees.

“Additionally, none of JN’s services represented the highest rate or fee when compared to the other six entities,” the report noted.

It was indicated that the National Commercial Bank was the entity with the most number of services with the highest rates or fees followed by Scotiabank and then First Global Bank (FGB).

According to the commission, FGB made no changes to any of its rates and fees, while JMMB had the most 16 changes for the period.

“Majority of the rates and fees examined remained unchanged, particularly for personal services. Of the services that experienced a price change, there were nine reductions, 14 increases and five newly applied rates or fees,” the report stated.

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