Headline: Fewer problems reported with shopping online in 2000

Source: Associated Press, 30 Jan 2001

Holiday shoppers who went looking for gifts online last year reported fewer problems with Web purchases, particularly the shipping delays that plagued the 1999 season.

The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it had received fewer consumer complaints and credited online companies with making more realistic shipping claims. The number of complaints was not available.

"No investigations tied solely to the 2000 holiday season appear warranted," Jodie Bernstein, director of the commission's consumer protection bureau, said in a statement. "At this time last year the FTC had already begun investigating more than a dozen online companies."

Bernstein said a review of Better Business Bureaus and consumer complaint Web sites also suggests that online retailers did a better job meeting their shipment commitments.

During the 1999 holiday season, many Internet stores failed to deliver on time and didn't notify customers of late shipments, FTC spokesman Eric London said. Facing civil charges, seven companies including Macy's and Toys R Us paid more than $1.5 million in penalties.

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@state.pa.us), January 30, 2001