The Consumer Council received 3,078 complaints about customer service in the first nine months of 2026, nearly 60% more than a year earlier, i-CABLE reported. The total had already surpassed the full-year counts for 2024, when 2,173 complaints were recorded, and 2025, when there were 2,715.
The annual count was 2,086 in 2023. Common complaints included businesses failing to follow up, being hard to contact, responding rudely or acting slowly. The Council said a gap between service quality and consumers’ expectations was contributing to continuing disputes.
A trial online complaint-handling platform launched in November 2025 had handled more than 30,000 complaints by August 31, 2026. It includes an online dispute-resolution service for consumers and businesses to communicate directly. For cases using that service, the Council said average mediation time was about 30% shorter than before.
One ticket buyer had asked an AI customer-service system whether tickets could be rescheduled in bad weather. After a No. 8 typhoon signal was issued, the buyer could not reach a human agent. The event organiser said it could not directly change tickets bought through the booking platform. The Council opened a dedicated chatroom for the parties, and the ticket date was changed that day.
In another case, a computer buyer submitted an online form and emailed a company with no customer-service hotline, but received no reply after three days. After the parties used the platform’s online dispute-resolution service, the company apologised the next day. The buyer collected the computer the day after, and the case was resolved within four working days.