CAIRO: The Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) blacklisted eight electronics producers after receiving recurrent complaints from consumers, the authority said on Tuesday. The CPA said in a statement that it received several complaints that products are frequently cut off or disconnected upon purchase and that warranty certificates were no more than ink on paper. Consequently, the authority gave the eight producers "a word of warning that it would raise the issue to prosecutors if they continued to violate the law and sold defective products. The authority also stipulated that producers list all components of each product on the warranty and immediately replace defective items if warranty period has not expired. "The authority will not tolerate any shortcomings, Said El Alfy, chairman of the CPA, said in a press statement. "Warranty certificates necessitate producers to pay for [repair] costs and for transportation costs if needed. The one-year-old commission, affiliated with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, acts as a government watchdog to protect consumers from abusive or neglectful companies. It did not reveal any brand names; however, according to Al Ahram daily newspaper, the products in question are branded under famous trademarks on the market. News leaked that defective items included brands such as Fresh, Electric Motive, Keriazyi, ElectroStar, Univeral and Sanyo. The authority refused to confirm the news. The CPA grabbed headlines last February when it released results of investigations in the media-driven bottled water contamination scare. It found that four water companies were producing water unfit for human consumption.
