Shanghai hotline's a hit, consumers decide

Shanghai residents are generally satisfied with the service they get from the 12315 consumer rights hotline, says a new survey.

Most of the 5,000 respondents were between age 20 and 60, and 21 percent had university bachelor's degrees or higher education, said the Shanghai Social Sciences Institute which did the survey.

More than 83 percent of survey respondents said they or their relatives had asked the hotline for help, and 99 percent were satisfied with the service, said the institute.

Consumers did say, however, that the hotline needed to raise its efficiency in settling disputes and more training of operators was needed.

"The operator I dealt with was very nice and patient," said Wang Diya, who called the hotline to complain about a cosmetics company.

"But the sentence she repeated most was 'please wait for several days while we deal with the matter'."

Since starting in 1998, the hotline has received 2.7 million calls, and dealt with 560,000 cases.

Consumers have been returned about 260 million yuan (US$37 million) in refund value through the service.

TAG: hit shanghai consumers decide