Consumers frustrated by slow complaint processes now have a new tool at their disposal. The National Consumers Association (NCA) has launched Consumer Connect, a digital platform designed to help shoppers file complaints directly with the right agency, demand their rights, and receive timely responses.
Cindy Emmanuel-MacClean, General Secretary of the NCA, explained the motivation behind the initiative.
“So you know consumers, we hear their complaints all the time. The prices in the supermarket, the fact that the telephone service is not working as it’s supposed to work. We hear things about water supply all over the place,” she said. “A lot of the time it’s just people venting their issues in public on the radio and social media. What we want to do is to have an idea in St. Lucia, what’s the real scope of those problems.”
She highlighted that Consumer Connect is designed to handle complaints across all sectors.
“Through Consumer Connect, if you have an issue irrespective of with whom, whether it’s a utility, whether it’s a telecommunications, whether it’s a service provider. And we’re not only talking about the big service providers, any service provider. You can come to Consumer Connect, make your complaint, or give us some information about your situation, and we will be collecting that data. We will be making sure that the complaints that you make get to the right people who can actually address it and can actually provide some assistance,” Emmanuel-MacClean said.
Dr Thecla Fitz-Lewis, President of the NCA, stressed the importance of consumer education alongside the platform.
“Because sometimes you have an issue. You bought a pair of shoes, you wait to have it the first time you got there. The shoe dismantled. What do you do? Do you know your rights? Do you know you can take it back to the store? And they have three choices, repair, replace or refund,” she said. Fitz-Lewis added that some businesses still attempt to deny consumer rights.
“Some businesses would put no exchange, no refund. According to the Consumer Protection Act of 2022, nobody can put up a sign anymore saying no exchange, no refund. So we want to educate consumers so they know what their rights are, they know what their choices are, and they know how to get redress. They also know what their responsibilities are.”
Consumer Connect aims to end the frustration of being bounced between organizations, providing a central point for complaints and ensuring that consumers in Saint Lucia have both a voice and a path to resolution.