The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) released a report on Online Food and Grocery Delivery Platforms, highlighting concerns regarding the handling of consumer complaints and data protection.
The report, issued in April, unveiled consumer apprehensions regarding the potential misuse of their data by apps beyond transactional purposes.
Despite the platforms outlining the intended use of shared data in their privacy-related terms and conditions, the Authority noted persistent consumer unease.
“In practice, it was observed that platforms do not present consumers with the choice to accept or decline data-related terms and conditions and secondly, the consequence of declining the data-related terms and conditions is the discontinuation/barred access to the platform services,” read the report in part.
Notably, CAK stated that the aforementioned clause was in contravention of section 56 of the Data Protection Act.
On complaints handling, the report indicated that some of the companies redirect the complaints to be handled from their headquarters domiciled outside Kenya.
Consequently, consumer complaints are likely to take longer to be resolved hence costlier and time-consuming.
Concerning these redirection of complaints, CAK, imperatively noted that only one delivery platform company headquarters was located in Kenya.
This comes after the CAK also raised concerns in March over individuals defrauding businesses under the guise of being officials from the Authority.
CAK stated that the individuals forced entry into business premises, imposing on-the-spot fines, confiscating merchandise and alleging arrests.
