(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce announced yesterday initiatives to regulate the services of laundries and dry cleaning shops to protect consumer rights. The initiative, which is based on Circular No. 1/2018, outlines mechanisms and principles that guarantee rights of consumers and service providers, compensation policy, pricing and other related aspects.
The initiative requires laundries to preserve items for three months from the date of receipt. The Ministry has granted laundries and dry cleaning shop a three-month deadline, starting from yesterday, to comply with the terms and conditions of the initiative.
Under the initiative, laundries are required to develop uniform and binding mechanisms to compensate consumers in the event of damage, loss, change of colour or other damage to the item. Previously, each laundry had its own compensation policy regarding damage to clothing or other items amid the lack of a uniform compensation policy.
The compensation is classified in two categories - compensation by agreement and mandatory compensation. In case of agreed-upon compensation, both parties agree on the compensation value before the provision of the service and the delivery of clothing or other items to the laundry, particularly expensive items. The compensation must be documented in the invoice relating to the item as a reference in case of a damage.
In the absence of an agreement between both parties, the laundry owner shall seek an agreement with consumer on the value of compensation for the damage, loss, colour change, to settle the dispute without infringing the rights of the consumer. He will take into account the condition, price and date of purchase of the concerned items by referring to invoice or through other means. The Ministry noted that mandatory compensation would be based on the estimated value (provided that the purchase invoice of the item is presented).
The compensation value owed to the consumer is determined by calculating the estimated monetary value of the item when the damage occurred and subtracting from the invoice purchase price the depreciation calculated based on the value table, the Ministry added.
In case the damage occurred within three months from the date of purchase, the value of the compensation shall be 70 percent of the value of the item. In case of damage after three months to six months from the date of purchase, the value of the compensation shall be 50 percent of the value of the item.
If the damage occurs between six months and one year from the date of purchase, the compensation value would be 30 percent of the item value.
If the damage occurs one year after purchasing the item, the compensation value is set at 20 percent of the item's value.
In case of mandatory compensation in the absence of a purchase invoice, the consumer is compensated for the damaged items (damage, loss, colour change, etc) at 15 times the cost of the service provided to the consumer by the seller.
The Ministry noted that consumers must present the purchase invoice of an item to obtain compensation according to the estimated monetary value.
The Ministry urged consumers to retain the purchase invoice of clothes and items delivered to laundries and dry cleaning shops to ensure their rights to compensation when a damage occurs.
The initiative also compels laundries to clearly inform consumers whether these advertised services are actually offered at the same shop, or through another one. This was not the case in the past, when some laundries advertised services that they did not provide or offered through other shops without the consumer's knowledge.
In addition, the new initiative compels laundries to provide proof of the condition of clothing and other items upon receipt by the laundry.
In this context, laundry shops are required to inspect the condition of the items upon receipt and to indicate whether the items are defective or damaged, and to document this condition in the invoice before the service is provided.
Prior to the initiative, laundry shops were not required to document the condition of clothing items (clothes, carpets and others) upon receipt and before the service was provided.
As for the distinction between the prices and terms of a regular service as opposed to an urgent service, the initiative compels laundries to announce the service delivery period and to distinguish between normal deadlines and urgent deadlines and their prices. Previously, most laundries did not announce the difference in price between regular and urgent service delivery.
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