Royal Mabati Factory Limited (RML) has lost an appeal against a decision to pay a Ksh. 2,652,363 fine for misleading customers.
The Competition Tribunal supported the decision by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to fine the roofing material manufacturer for documented customer complaints, in a ruling issued last week.
The complaints included;
- Failure and delays to deliver purchased products within agreed timelines
- Request for customers to pay for deliveries despite adverts on free deliveries by the company
- Requests to change order specifications after payments.
In May 21, 2020, RML moved to the Competition Tribunal to challenge the penalty made by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK).
CAK then carried out investigations on Royal Mabati after its customers filed various complaints about its services.
A statement by CAK on Tuesday, May 17, noted that, “On various dates between March 2018 and March 2020, CAK received 13 complaints from customers of RML regarding the failure of or delayed deliveries and requiring customers to pay a delivery fee, despite advertisements indicating that the service was free countrywide.”
The Competition Authority in May 2020 decided that Royal Mabati had overstepped the aforementioned provisions of the law.
Nonetheless, RML, dismissed the allegations and infringed a CAK Cease and Desist Order which required them to stop running their free delivery advertisements.
Moreover, to add on the monetary penalty, RML will be required to restitute the inconvenienced customers through refunds within 60 days or free delivery of the products in 30 days.
Furthermore, Royal Mabati has been asked to desist from running false or misleading advertisements and to sensitize its customer care team about provisions of the Competition Act.
