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Were Your Batteries Included?Increased Protection For Online Shoppers After Record Christmas Frenzy Which? Web Trader, Consumers' Association's online shopping hallmark scheme and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the not-for-profit organisation for the administration of alternative dispute resolution, have teamed up to launch a new online arbitration scheme. This Christmas industry experts predicted that online spending would rise to £815m in 2001 up from £330m in 2000. The Christmas period alone accounted for 25 per cent of the total annual online spending. The online disasters of Christmas 2000 saw companies such as Etoys go into liquidation after it failed to deliver many of its online orders and spoilt Christmas for thousands of children. For consumers that are dissatisfied with the goods, delivery or service provided from their online purchases from a member of the Which? Web Trader scheme, the new online arbitration service will provide a fast, easy and effective system to resolve the problem - if a suitable resolution cannot be reached by the Which? Web Trader team liaising between the consumer and the trader. This will help alleviate the anxiety of UK surfers over online shopping particularly with regards to poor customer service and security of using credit cards. Gregory Hunt, manager of dispute resolution services at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators commented, "Consumers are increasingly using the Internet to avoid the busy shops and endless queues for their Christmas shopping and the same should apply after Christmas. " We are all familiar with queuing impatiently to return presents that don't work or have been bought more than once- it is practically part of the Christmas tradition. Yet if you have a problem with an online retailer, with the products you received (or didn't receive), you should be able to resolve this online too." Online shopping continues to grow in the UK. According to a recent Which? Online survey 16 million people use the Internet in the UK and over eight million have tried Internet shopping at least once. However, only one in 10 consumers see the Internet as offering better customer service, whilst only 49 per cent feel it is safe to use a credit card online. The new online arbitration scheme is fast, easy and effective. In every individual case the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators will appoint a trained and independent arbitrator who is an expert in the online retailing arena. The process is very low cost and works on a sliding scale dependent on the size of the claim. For example, a claim of £1000 - £5000 will cost £30, whereas a claim up to £500 will cost just £10. The maximum consumers can claim is £10,000. The whole process is conducted online, with both parties requested to submit electronic documents from which the arbitrator will make a decision. The arbitration will take a maximum of three months and, if the complaint is found in favour of the consumer, the cost of arbitration will also be refunded. Gregory Hunt commented, "This new Web Trader Arbitration Scheme
will go a long way to give customers of registered Web Traders more
confidence to buy online. Through this relationship with Which?
Web Trader, the Chartered Institute is continuing to build on the
successes of similar schemes it has in place with organisations
such as ABTA and Ford that protect the interests of consumers."
"Now the scheme has been launched in the UK, we plan to work
with the Chartered Institute to role out online arbitration schemes
in the Web Trader schemes run by consumer organisations in Europe." For further information please contact Gregory Hunt |
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