Hong Kong couples having their big days ruined by shoddy service

Hong Kong couples having their big days ruined by shoddy service

A rising number of newlyweds have complained about substandard wedding services after providers failed to deliver what they had promised on the couples' big days, the consumer watchdog said yesterday.

In one case, the complainant rented a pink London taxi, but on the wedding day another car arrived, after the vendor claimed the taxi had broken down, the Consumer Council said.

Another unfortunate couple found they had to serve guests delivered banquet food because open-flame cooking was not allowed at their wedding venue. The couple filed a complaint and insisted the vendor's staff did not clearly explain the "outside catering" requirement when pitching the wedding service package.

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In another complaint about a venue, a couple who had hired a glass hall was later told it was an illegal structure.

Such complaints relating to special car rentals and wedding venues have been rising of late.

The Consumer Council said it received 41 complaints about venues and related services during the first seven months of this year, an increase of about 28 per cent compared with the same period last year.

It said unscrupulous traders were taking advantage of Chinese customs and rituals.

"Wedding couples have many things to do on their big days. They think it's important to catch up with the 'auspicious time' and dare not argue," the council's vice-chairman Philip Leung Kwong-hon said yesterday.

The council's chief executive, Gilly Wong Fung-han, urged couples to take extra precautions when making arrangements for their wedding days.

"Consumers have to ask for every detail of [the wedding package] … including compensation arrangements in advance," she said.

Wong said some of the business practices being complained about might have breached the Trade Descriptions Ordinance and a number of cases had been referred to customs officers, who are responsible for enforcing the rules.

Customs confirmed it had received complaints. Since the law came in to force in July 2013 it had written to two companies and it was now looking into two further cases, while three others had not been found to violate the law.

Wong said the council had not yet decided on whether to name the companies.

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