14.03.2025 12:01
In 2024, the Ministry of Trade received the highest number of consumer complaints regarding shoes, with a total of 100,448 complaints. Complaints about clothing and credit card membership fees were also among the most reported issues. Last year, the Ministry received 146,130 consumer complaints related to defective goods and services, distance contracts, commercial advertising, and unfair commercial practices.
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In the consumer complaints received by the Ministry of Trade last year, complaints about shoes ranked first with 100,448, followed by complaints about clothing, credit card membership fees, mobile phones, furniture, and internet subscriptions.
According to information obtained from the Ministry, consumers convey their complaints on various issues to the Ministry of Trade through methods such as CİMER, e-Government, email, and written applications. In this context, last year, a total of 146,130 consumer complaints were submitted to the Ministry regarding defective goods and services, distance contracts, commercial advertisements and unfair commercial practices, warranty certificates, after-sales services, and subscription contracts. Last year, there were 755,997 applications to consumer arbitration boards, of which 762,100 were concluded. The value of the disputed products exceeded 7 billion lira.
THE MOST COMPLAINTS WERE MADE ABOUT SHOES
When looking at the applications based on products and services, it was observed that the most complaints were made about shoe products. There were 100,448 applications regarding this product, which constituted approximately 13.2% of the total complaints. Shoes were followed by clothing with 36,800 applications, credit card membership fees with 36,725, mobile phones with 30,959, furniture with 29,846, and internet subscriptions with 28,733 applications.
PENALTIES FOR COMPANIES VIOLATING THE RULES
The teams affiliated with the Ministry's central and provincial organizations continued their inspection activities without slowing down last year. In this context, inspections were carried out on contracts and practices involving consumers, such as distance contracts, subscription contracts, timeshare, package tours, warranty certificates, and after-sales services, resulting in the decision to impose administrative fines exceeding 3.7 billion lira on companies that negatively affected the economic interests of citizens. Regarding misleading and deceptive advertisements and unfair commercial practices, the Advertising Board imposed an administrative fine of approximately 277.7 million lira in 2024. Inspections conducted to ensure the safe market release of products such as textiles, shoes, toys, stationery, and detergents, which fall under the Ministry's responsibility, resulted in administrative fines exceeding 45 million lira last year.
INSPECTIONS WERE ALSO CONDUCTED ON PASTRIES AND BAKERIES
Additionally, in inspections primarily focused on price tags and the tariff and price lists of businesses providing food and beverage services such as restaurants, cafes, and pastry shops, teams affiliated with the Ministry imposed administrative fines exceeding 401 million lira. As a result of complaints and inspection activities, a total of 4.5 billion lira in administrative fines was imposed last year on products identified as endangering the health, safety, and economic interests of consumers.
1000 CALLS ARE ANSWERED DAILY
The Ministry's "Alo 175 Consumer Consultation Line" serves as a call center application where solutions to the problems faced by citizens are provided, and applications are directed to the relevant authorities for the resolution of disputes. This application aims to enable consumers to assert their rights without hesitation in all disputes that may arise from transactions and practices directed at them. An average of 1000 applications are answered daily at the call center, with 422,784 calls answered in 2024 and 75,675 calls answered by February 2025.
"OUR CONSUMERS SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS"
On the other hand, Ministry officials warned consumers to be careful when purchasing products. Accordingly, one of the most common problems faced by citizens in the holiday sector is being invited to holiday facilities with the promise of winning a free holiday and being persuaded to sign contracts as a result of marketing activities conducted there. Consumers who receive such invitations should be aware that they will be subjected to promotion and sales when they go to the facility. Consumers are advised to view the list of authorized renewal centers authorized by the Ministry and the authorization documents given to these companies when purchasing "refurbished products" that have been renewed to a certain standard, guaranteed, and certified.
SPECIAL MEASURES AGAINST FAKE AUTHORIZED SERVICES
To avoid being victimized by companies that promote themselves in a way that gives the impression of being authorized services without actually being so, it is important to check the authorized service information of the products they use through the service information system accessible at "www.servis.gov.tr," created by the Ministry. When choosing products such as textiles, shoes, toys, childcare products, detergents, and furniture, it is necessary to examine the notifications in the unsafe product information system and comply with the warnings and instructions on the product. It is also important for consumers to be cautious before and during shopping in distance contracts that refer to e-commerce transactions.
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