This is called consumer damage, and the total damage caused by unsuccessful purchases is estimated to be at least SEK 40 billion annually. It is an incredibly large sum, and behind the figure are hundreds of thousands of consumers who lose both time and money.
Problems with craft services alone cost consumers approximately four billion kroner annually. Other problem purchases that lead to large costs are the purchase of house construction, cars and telecom services.
SEK 6,500 per person
Of the total roughly 40 billion, 30 billion represents pure overheads, while 10 billion corresponds to the value of the time we spent trying to solve the problems. The total consumer damage corresponds to approximately SEK 6,500 per adult per year. The data comes from a study conducted by the Swedish Consumer Agency and is based on 8,000 cases of consumer problems that have been collected over a four-year period. This concerns, for example, goods and services that are deficient, trips that are canceled and contracts that are difficult to cancel.
A purchase being unsuccessful can have several reasons. In addition to errors in the product or service, it can be due to the consumer having made an ill-considered choice, sometimes due to lack of or misleading information on the part of the company.
It is important that companies comply with laws and regulations
What can then be done to reduce consumer damage and increase the conditions for well-functioning consumer markets?
First of all, it is important that the companies comply with laws and regulations and provide products that meet the standards. It is also important that complaint handling is simple and efficient. It must be easy for the consumer to complain about a faulty product and receive proper compensation. The companies also stand to gain from well-functioning businesses with satisfied consumers and low costs for complaint handling.
But of course we consumers also have a responsibility to keep consumer damage down. We do this by being critical and checking offers carefully before we strike. We also need to find out what rights we actually have and act to get them fulfilled.
Cecilia Tisell, Consumer Ombudsman
