NCAC NEWS(Vol.7,No.3)

OVERVIEW OF NATIONWIDE STATISTICS ON CONSUMER COUNSELING IN FY 1994

1. Trends in total number of counseling cases received in FY 1994

The total number of counseling cases received by consumer centers and consumer organizations across the country in FY 1994 (April 1994-March 1995) was 448,274, as shown in Table 1. The number of counseling cases was an increase of 14,188 cases (3.3%) over the previous year. The total number of cases have been rising since 1991, and in FY 1994, the number of counseling cases surpassed the figure of the year before.

In FY 1994, local government consumer centers received 437,053 cases, for an increase of 14,877 over the previous year. By prefecture, the total number of counseling cases increased in 26 prefectures, and decreased in 21 prefectures. Among them, the number in Hyogo prefecture increased by 6,523 cases (28.1%) compared to the year before, mainly due to the large number of counseling cases related to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (centered around Kobe) which occurred in January 1995.

The total number of counseling cases brought to the consumer organizations increased by 41 to 3,916 cases even though the number of organizations in the survey decreased from three to two. Cases brought to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan (NCAC) totaled 7,305 cases, which was 10 cases lower than the year before. (The total number includes 563 telephone inquiries and cases received by the "Consumer Telephone Counseling Related to the Earthquake Disaster").

2. Trends in Number of Counseling Cases by Product and Service

In FY 1994, it was possible to classify 417,583 of the total 448,274 counseling cases. Table 2 shows the trends in the number of counseling cases over the past four years by products, services, and others. The component ratio to the total number that can be classified is: product-related cases 52.0%, service-related cases 43.7%, other cases 4.3%. The number of complaints received totaled 291,926 cases or 69.9% of the total classifiable cases, and this ratio has been increasing for the past several years. Regarding the type of complaint, the ratio of complaints about "products" was 52.2%, followed by "services" at 46.8% and "other" at 1.0%.

Number of Counseling Cases by Major Categories of Product and Service

Tables 3 and 4 show the number of counseling cases from FY 1991 to FY 1994. In FY 1994, compared to the previous year, cases related to "products" increased by 1.7% and those related to services" increased by 6.3%. The rate of increase (14.0% for products and 9.2% for services) was lower than that registered lat year. For the major categories of products, most were concerned with "cultural and entertainment products," which accounted for 58,577 cases. "Household products" resulted in 47,096 cases, and "clothes" 26,544 cases. The rate of increase from the previous year was particularly large for "land, building, and facilities" (18.9%) and "cultural and entertainment products " (17.0%), etc. In contrast, a minus growth rate was registered for "food products" (-18.4%), and for "products in general (cases involving some type of product, but whose contents could not or need not be specified) " (-16.7%). Next, among the "services" cases, the largest number of counseling cases was received for "cultural and entertainment services" with 46,318 cases, followed by "financial and insurance services" with 32,095 cases, and "rental and lease services" with 19,062 cases.

Also, the rate of increase from the previous year was large for "rental and lease services"(34.8%), "other administrative services" (27.2%), "construction,building, and processing" (27.0%), etc. On the other hand, negative growth rates compared to the previous year were registered by "health and welfare services" (-8.3%), "cleaning" (-5.3%), etc.

Number of Counseling Cases by subcategory

From the number of counseling cases by Major classification items, let us analyze more closely the trends in the detailed classification items from FY 1991 to FY 1994. The largest number of counseling cases registered each year were related to "lessons and lectures" such as courses to acquire licenses (qualifications) and foreign language classes. The highest rate of increase from the previous year was registered by al, lease, loan of land, building, and facilities" (45.5%), followed by "construction, building and processing of land, building, and facilities" (29.7%). This was largely due to the impact of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Combining both products and services, large numbers of counseling cases were, like last year, related to "lessons and lectures" (39,530 cases), "other finance" such as credit companies and consumer finance companies (20,854 cases), and "books and printed materials" (16,294 cases).

3. Type of counseling

The breakdown of counseling cases is shown in Table 5 below. Out of all the counseling cases that could be classified, the cases related to products and services were classified by content into 15 types. When counseling covers multiple items, then multiple counting of up to four items per case was carried out. With regard to "other counseling" ,cases are not classified by the specific content.

From FY 1991 to FY 1994, out of all counseling cases that would be classified, cases related to "contract/cancellation" were most numerous. This was followed by "selling method" , "quality, function, and service quality " , and "prices and fees". As for trends in the component ratio, "contract/cancellation" and "selling method" are increasing slightly, while the number of cases related to "quality, function, and service quality" and "knowledge for living" are declining slightly, while other categories have remained at roughly the same level.

In FY 1994, out of all the cases related to products and services that could be classified, the largest number involved "contract/cancellation" (54.4%), followed by "selling method" (28.8%), and "quality, function, and service quality " (17.2%).

4. Special selling methods

Table 6 shows counseling cases related to special selling methods such as "door-to-door sales" , "mail-order sales" , and "pyramid and quasi-pyramid sales". The criteria for classifying door-to-door and mail-order sales include selling methods that are defined in Article 2 of the Law Concerning Door-to-Door Sales as well as other that are similar methods, e.g., telephone solicitation for enrolling. With regard to "pyramid and quasi-pyramid sales" , we include business methods stipulated in Article 11 of the law and similar selling methods. "Other types of non-store selling " refer to non-store sales such as those for more than two days at exhibitions, i.e., selling methods that are not covered by the indicated three types.

In recent years, the number of counseling cases related to special selling methods has been declining, but the number began to increase in FY 1992. In FY 1993, 26.8% more cases than in the previous year were brought to consumer centers and consumer organizations. The number of counseling cases related to special selling in FY 1993 totaled 145,519 cases. This is 36.1% of all counseling cases that can be classified (402,865 cases). As to the relative shares of counseling cases, "door-to-door sales" made up 55.9% of all cases related to special selling, "mail-order selling" accounted for 34.8%, "pyramid and quasi-pyramid sales" for 6.3%, and "other non-store retail" was responsible for 3.0%.

5. Methods of payments

Out of all the counseling cases brought during FY 1994, methods of payments accounted for 174,020 cases. In these cases, "cash payment" formed the largest group at 45.2%, followed by the method of "purchases involving three parties or more" 43.6%, where parties other than those directly involved in the transaction such as credit companies become involved, while "installment credit by the company itself" accounted for 1.7%.

6. Trends in Prefecturs, Special Designated Cities and Municipalities

In terms of the rate of increase in the number of counseling cases in comparison with the previous year, the number increased 5.6% at service desks of municipalities, 3.4% at service desks of special designated cities, and 2.3% at service desks of prefectures.

7. Accidents related to hazardous products

In FY 1994, NCAC received a total of 13,625 injury information from approximately 320 local consumer centers across the country and 20 cooperating hospitals, which is an increase of 2,194 cases from the previous year. Of these cases, we introduce some typical cases below. Sample cases were also published in the last issue of NCAC News (Vol.6, No.3).

- While a consumer was using an electric toothbrush, his lips and tongue became trapped, causing much pain, blood blisters and injury to the lips and tongue. With the product in question, when the user performs "Swing bus brushing" which involves three-dimensional motion, the brushing part moves at 3,000 times per minute. When it is used repeatedly, the bos (the center of the brushing part) becomes worn out, and a space forms between the holders. The lips and tongue became caught in this space.

- A consumer, following the instructions in a cooking book for microwave cooking, put an egg in a bowl filled with water, and tried to boil the egg. After seven or eight minutes, she opened the microwave oven door, and touched the egg with a pair of chopsticks to move it. The egg exploded violently, covering her face with scalding water from the bowl and bits of egg. She suffered serious burns requiring one month of treatment. Some bits of egg even reached the ceiling. In the instructions for using this microwave oven, the maker warned not to use it for boiling eggs. By the time this cooking book was published in 1991, most such books for microwave ovens already warned about the danger of exploding eggs. Thus, chefs and microwave oven makers all knew about the danger of explosion with eggs, but this particular cooking book ignored the risk completely. This victim had made dishes from this particular cooking book for three years, and she knew that it was dangerous to cook eggs in a microwave oven from the instructions for the microwave oven and from other cooking books. However, when she read the description of this particular cooking book, she thought it was safe to follow the recipe, and was thus injured.

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