The Municipal Consumer Information Office (OMIC) of La Orotava handled almost 7,000 queries in 2021 and helped process 391 claims, of which 68% resolved amicably. Although face-to-face attention has been maintained, the Covid-19 pandemic has generated a notable increase in inquiries via email and telephone.
According to data from the OMIC annual report, this service attended in 2021 a daily average of 23 claims. With 268 files resolved by the friendly agreement procedure, the initiation of the judicial procedure has been avoided. The remaining 31%, a total of 123 files, are still being processed.
telephonywith 31.65%, ranks first in claims, followed by cancellations due to Covid-19, which during the past year accounted for 27.88% of the total. There are also complaints about flights (11.76%), energy (9.46%), financial institutions (7.93%), leisure (5.88%) the appliances (4.60%), the car (4.35%), health services (3.84%), feeding (2.56%), textile or footwear trade (2.53%), the reforms (2.81%) or insurance (2.30%).
This service points out that “the request for information is not only exercised by consumers, it is also required by businessmen. The OMIC provides them appropriately and free of chargesince this is in favor of consumers, since the company, on certain occasions, acts incorrectly due to ignorance of the norm”.
“It is a practical service that is close to the citizen that allows them to exercise their rights without having to invest too much time, being able to make inquiries from home or in person”
Retail establishments and qualified professionals are required to have claim forms. The requests presented in the Orotavense office by the businessmen for claim sheets have been a total of 178.
In addition to solving the small conflicts that may arise between a consumer and a companythe OMIC guides citizens in the preparation of writings of various kinds or that are addressed to different bodies such as the client’s ombudsman or the insured’s ombudsman, depending on the procedure that must be carried out in each case.
Consumers have a “practical and close to the citizen” service that enables them to exercise their rights without having to invest too much time, being able to make inquiries from home or in person, and the staff is responsible for managing their claims, keeping them informed of the processing of these at all times”, underlines the councilor for the Consumer Affairs area, Yayi Gonzalez (CC).
