Consumers lost approximately $ 1.9 million in advance payments in 2024 due to the sudden closure of companies and companies that did not respond after consumers paid.

This was more than quadruplicate advance payment losses of $ 476,000 reported in 2023, says Consumers Association of Singapore (Fall) on Thursday (Feb 6).

The renovation contracting industry accounted for the maximum amount for losses of approximately $ 728,000 – slightly more than a third of the annual amount.

This is mostly derived from entrepreneurs becoming insecure during the renovation process, which left some consumers with incomplete homes.

The bridal industry came in second place with losses of about $ 284,000, or close to 15 percent of the total. This was mainly due to the sudden closure of the Wedding Company Love Nest and its related units in April last year.

Due to large non -delivered items, as well as the loss of goods during move, Movers recorded slightly more than $ 134,000 in advance payment losses.

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Fall president Melvin Yong said that the association is worried about the sharp increase in advance payment losses.

Specifically, for the renovation industry, he noted that all cases where consumers lost their advance payments and deposits were a result of condescending non-kassosta accredited contractors.

“Consumers are recommended to engage Casetrust-accredited companies when the purchase involves large advance payments because these companies buy insurance to protect (their) interest,” he added.

Complaint

The association received 14,236 complaints in 2024, an increase of 2 percent from complaints 13,991 2023.

The motor industry remained at the top with 1,306 complaints. Of the complaints, about 35 percent were related to car sharing and car rental, a small increase from 33 percent the year before.

This was followed by the electrical and electronics industry, which logged 1,235 complaints. The beauty industry ranked as third with 1 199 complaints.

Although the renovation contractor registered the most advance payment losses, the number of complaints decreased to 962 2024, from 1,168 2023. About 97 percent of these complaints were against non-castered accredited contractors.

The entertainment sector published a significant increase in complaints to 798, which highlighted an increase of 281 percent from 209 which was registered in 2023. The hope is mainly attributed to the Botched Singapore Sky Lantern Festival in February 2024, and ticketing.

With the growing popularity for online shopping, e-commerce complaints also saw a peak to 4,641 cases last year, an increase of 25 percent year.

Yong emphasized that complaints about e-commerce “has reached a maximum time” and exceeded the peak 2020, which is attributed to the Covid-19-Pandemic.

While the complaints have increased, Yong said that the association has collaborated with e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada to introduce a dispute resolution framework.

“Complaints involving these platforms have a high resolution rate of about 90 percent.”

He added that the association will continue to work with other platforms to give consumers better protection as they shop online.

In 2024, approximately 80 percent of cases were resolved as the case was competent to negotiate with companies. This marked an improvement of 4 percent from 2023 and was also the association’s highest resolution rate in the last five years.

Yong pointed out that more must be done to better protect consumers who trade online, and more safeguards are needed for sectors that collect large advance payments.

“The case will engage the government on the need to update our laws, work with our stakeholders to improve consumer education and take measures to deal with industry -specific problems.”