Test reveals some refrigerators are too warm while some are smaller than claimed
Refrigerators should be freezing cold in their freezer compartment. But half of the refrigerator-freezers, tested by the Consumer Council, have proved to be too warm for cold storage - in excess of -18℃.
Moreover, on the total usable volume, all of the 12 refrigerator samples were measured to be less than the net volume they claimed - by 2% to 19%.
These revelations were contained in a test report published today (March 15) in the latest issue of the Consumer Council magazine CHOICE. Included in the test were 12 frost-free refrigerator-freezers comprising eight 3-door and four twin-door models.
In the report, all samples were rated to be electrically safe. All scored satisfactory results in a series of 12 safety test items.
While the test found the temperature in the freezer compartments of some samples to be unsatisfactorily high, the same problem was not detected in the non-freezer parts of there frigerators.
In fact, all refrigerators without exception were found to be close to the target temperature of a mean (average) 3℃.
It was found that the freezers of 6 of the 12 samples were too warm for an excessively long period, even when their thermostats were set to the coldest position.
As the temperature for most samples was higher in the freezer door racks than the inner freezer compartment,consumers are advised to avoid placing frozen foods in the freezer door racks.
The test also inspected the freezer star rating, on the basis of ISO (International Standards Organisation)requirements, claimed by these products. The freezer star rating ranges from"1 Star" to "4 Star", the larger the number the colder the freezer should be.
Of the 11 samples claiming to attain the top "4 Star" rating, 6 were found to fail to measure up to the relevant ISO requirements. To be worthy of "4 Star" rating, the freezer should be capable of freezing fresh food at room temperature of 25℃ down to -18℃ in 24 hours while the frozen food originally inside the freezer is maintained at below -15℃.
The 6 samples, in this case, had the temperature of the frozen food in the freezer rise above the -15℃ limit when fresh food was placed into the compartment.
The test also simulated an electricity suspension and recorded escalating temperature of the freezers from -18℃ to -9℃ in 4 to 10 hours. This shows that some samples are better insulated than the others.
As specified by ISO, the measurement of the usable storage volume does not include unusable areas such as housings for interior lights and thermostat, volume occupied by evaporator and air ducting. In the Council's test, it also does not include the space between the drawers and the inner walls of the compartment though ISO does not require this space to be excluded in the measurement.
The total usable storage volume ofall samples was measured to be less than their claimed net volume. The discrepancies ranged from 2% to 19%.
The worst shortfall was found in the vegetable compartments of 3-door models ranging from 27% to as much as 48%.
Of the 12 samples, 6 bore energy labels - one Grade 1 and five Grade 2 (the smaller the number, the more energy efficient) - issued under the Government voluntary Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (EELS).
According to the Council's test,of the 5 samples bearing Grade 2 label, the freezers of 2 samples were found to be unsatisfactorily warm. For the other 3 samples, their results did not match the labelled grading on energy efficiency.
Energy conscious consumers are urged to consult the report for the rating of the samples in this aspect.
Read the fine print for the exclusions contained in many a medical insurance policy
Contemplating medical insurance cover? Before you do so, read the small print on the policy very carefully to find out what it does, or more importantly, does not cover.
A recent Consumer Council survey of medical insurance policies of 15 insurers has uncovered clauses aplenty that would exempt the insurer from paying compensation to a whole lot of illnesses,conditions or treatments.
Last year the Council received 31consumer complaints related to medical insurance. Over half of these complaints(17 cases) concerned claim disputes.
Some of these disputes arose dueto non-disclosure of pre-existed illness such as high blood pressure and other symptoms. Some complainants claimed that they acted as such on the broker's advice, and the insurers relied on the Misrepresentation or Pre-existing Conditions Clauses in the policy to refuse compensatory payment.
In most cases, the insured probably were not informed or did not understand in the first place the full extent of the exclusions in their medical cover.
Some complaints showed that circumstances such as hospitalisation expenses purely for medical check-ups,dental treatment, or the discovery of internal organ tumor soon after the policy took effect were not covered by medical insurance.
Other exclusions as revealed by the survey include: venereal diseases, AIDs, mental illness, congenital conditions, childbirth and related expenses, cosmetic or plastic surgery, corrective aids.
Further, expenses arising from "ineligible expenses" (e.g. medical report, blood transfusion),"ineligible treatment" (e.g. treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism), "existing insurance coverages" (e.g. company group insurance, workmen compensation), "extra hazardous causes" (e.g.diving, mountaineering, illnesses caused by asbestos or radioactivity),"unacceptable coverage" (e.g. suicide, drug abuse) were also among the exclusions.
Clauses in medical insurance policies, as the survey attests, are invariably full of technical and medical jargons written in English and incomprehensive to the average consumers.
To complicate the matter, only 7of the 15 insurers surveyed provided a Chinese translation copy of their policy.Improvement in this area is obviously needed.
Consumers are advised to pay special attention to the following:
- There is no extra benefit in obtaining more than one medical insurance policy if the insurer will compensate only on the basis of actual medical expenses. Review all your existing covers, if any, to determine if they give you adequate cover.
- Ask to study the policy carefully paying particular attention to the exclusion clauses, and if in doubt, seek clarification.
- Fill out the proposal form with great care to ensure that all important information, in particular your medical history, is fully disclosed.
- Exercise your right during the cooling-off period (14 to 21 days) to return the policy to the insurer should you decide not to confirm the policy.
Survey on satisfaction rate of internet users to ISP service, and consumer privacy threatened on the net
Cyber surfing is really catching on in Hong Kong.
Over 50% of internet users are frequent surfers who log on the internet at least once per day. And 25% of them possess more than one Internet Service Provider (ISP) account.
These statistics were borne out in a recent opinion survey on Internet Service Providers, conducted by the Consumer Council with 2,010 internet users. Selecting the right ISP is probably the first essential step to satisfaction in internet usage.
According to the survey, surfing the world-wide-web (www) tops the list of internet usage (89.4%), followed by sending or receiving email (65.6%), downloading software/files (33%) and chatting/ICQ (29.9%).
The survey identified the peak internet traffic period to be from 9:00p.m. to 11:59p.m. on weekdays. As many as 57% of the respondents surfed the internet during that period of time.
In consequence, the satisfaction rate of internet users was low during that period due to busy dial tone, low speed in browsing both local or overseas webpages.
In general, users were more satisfied with Broadband Internet than Dial-up Internet due to the faster speed of Broadband service. However, Broadband service is generally more expensive, priced from about $200 to $300 per month (based on monthly usage of 50 to 100hours), than Dial-Up service. The price difference could be up to $160.
The survey also showed that 26.3%of respondents had approached ISPs for technical support in the past 6 months. Over 60% of respondents found the technical support service provided to be useful; but only 47% of respondents were satisfied with their response time.
Meanwhile, the issue of consumer privacy on the internet is under international scrutiny.
The Consumer Council has joined the Consumers International, the global federation of 263 consumer organisations,in a comparative study of privacy protection on 751 internet sites for consumers.
The Hong Kong part of the study was conducted in co-operation with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.
Out of the 81 sites surveyed in Hong Kong, 67 sites or over 80% (32 retail, 21 financial and 14 health-related)were found to collect some sort of personal information.
This may be due to the fact that most Hong Kong sites offer internet shopping for consumers and the collection of personal data becomes necessary for transaction purpose. The most commonly sought personal information is: name (81%), email (70%), telephone number (49%),address (46%) and credit card number (21%).
The survey also reveals that some sites in Hong Kong are collecting a lot of unnecessary and very personal information that make it easy to identify the internet users, such as Hong Kong Identification Card number (4%), date of birth (9%) and gender (24%).
Another area of concern is the excessive use of cookies planted by website operators in a user's computer. Cookie is a small computer file that is sent from a web server to a user's computer for the purpose of future identification of that computer on future visits to the same web site.
According to the survey, most sites in Hong Kong placed 2 or 3 cookies but in one extreme case, a health-related site, as many as up to 50 cookies were placed.
Consumers should be alert to such practice by rejecting cookies planted in their computer by intrusive businesses.
The survey also raised the concern that the vast majority of sites gave users no choice about having their name included on the site's own mailing list or passed on to affiliates or third parties. Only 21% of the sites in Hong Kong provided consumers the choice to opt out from the company mailing lists.
Only a small proportion of the sites adhered to basic principles of fair information use by informing their customers clearly and fully of their privacy policy.
The Consumer Council is urging site operators to comply strictly with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance which is administered by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and to adopt good privacy practice to ensure that, amongst others:
- internet users are given control over the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information and that personal information is collected and only held as long as necessary to fulfil the original purpose for collecting it.
- users can easily access or correct any data a site may hold about them and that it is collected, stored and transmitted in a secure manner appropriate to the sensitivity of the data.
If it is too good to be true, it probably is
Credit card holders are bombarded these days with incessant offers of gifts of one sort or another. The motive: to lure you into more credit card spending. But these offers are sometimes just too good to be true.
Consumer complaints of the problem rose sharply last year to 125 compared to 13 in 1999 and 7 in 1998. There were 13 complaints in the first 2 months of 2001.
In this issue of CHOICE are highlighted a number of complaints related to this latest sales promotional tactic by credit card issuers.
In one case, the complainant received in the mail a promotional brochure advertising a free gold ornament for purchase of $8,000 with her credit card in the month of December last year.
Swiftly she went out for her shopping and signed up the required amount. The same day she put a call to the card centre and successfully registered for her gift.
In January this year, however, she received a notice informing her that the gift could not be made available as it was on a first-come-first-served basis while stocks lasted. Instead she was offered 12,000 bonus points.
In another case, a credit card holder was enraged when she learned that the offer of gift was subject to the outcome of a draw, a condition she did not know in the first place.
She complained that the promotional leaflet sent her was misleading and unfair as there was no mention of the draw and that as the quantity of the gift was not specified there was no way a consumer could assess the chances of successfully obtaining the gift.
Another card holder had similar experience. When he went to collect his gift he was given 2 complimentary coupons which required further purchase of a specific sum at a designated shop. The complainant contended that the coupons could hardly constitute a gift.
Credit card issuers are urged to specify the quantity of gifts available, and the substitutes of equivalent value in the event they become unavailable. This practice would enable consumers to better assess their chances of receiving the gifts of their preference, and enhance the reputation of the company.
Consumers, on the other hand, are advised to be aware that in most cases the offer of free gifts by credit card operators is not without restrictions of some kind. They should therefore read the conditions usually in small print to safeguard their own interest.