The MCCAA announced the winners of the fifth edition of Premju Servizz bi Tbissima at an awards night held on November 21.

The main objective of this award is to assist consumers and traders to develop and strengthen a good relationship. Through this initiative, the Authority encourages local sellers to adopt trading practices that provide consumers with more benefits than those established at law. 

In his address, Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Rights, Public Cleansing and Support for the Capital City Deo Debattista spoke about how giving service with a smile to customers can help generate a loyal customer base and make consumers feel comfortable to bring forward any difficulties they may encounter. Deo Debattista said that this initiative rewards sellers and their employees who provide a good service to their customers, especially after-sales service. When problems arise, sellers must manage to change a negative experience into a positive one. Consumers appreciate and value such after-sales service and this is reflected in the success of the Servizz bi Tbissima competition which this year attracted over 5,200 votes. Deo Debattista also noted the Authority’s commitment to strengthen and build trustful relationships between consumers and sellers. 

In her welcome address, MCCAA Chairperson Helga Pizzuto spoke about the Authority’s mission in having a market where fair-trading prevails, and consumer welfare is enhanced. A healthy economy needs sellers and consumers to appreciate and trust each other. The MCCAA facilitates the building of such a relationship through various initiatives such as Premju Servizz bi Tbissima and the Trust You Scheme. The former’s success transpires in the increasing consumer participation and the traders’ enthusiasm in promoting this competition among their customers. Helga Pizzuto expressed the Authority’s commitment to continue educating both consumers and sellers about their rights and responsibilities. 

The Authority is also bound to provide consumers and local economic operators with a high-quality service. To ensure this, the Authority has extended the international standard certification, ISO 9001 to the Office for Consumer Affairs operational performance. The Office’s success in obtaining this certification underscores its commitment to provide a quality service to the benefit of both consumers and economic operators. 

The competition includes five categories of sellers and voting by the general public took place between June 12 and July 10, 2019.

The winners of each category were the following:

The category of ‘Electronic Products and Household Goods’ was won by Forestals, while SCAN and Homemate placed second and third respectively.

The category ‘Online Local Sellers’ was won by scanmalta.com, whilst forestals.com placed second. The third place was awarded to mvintage.com and pavipama.com.mt with equal votes.

Hair Haven won the ‘Fashion and Beauty’ category. In this category D Beauty Bar placed second, and the third place was awarded to Fair Hair and Beauty Salon. 

The winner of the ‘Supermarkets and Mini Markets’ category was John’s Food Market followed by Pavi-Pama Supermarket in second place. Lidl placed third.  

The category of ‘Travel’ was won by ROCS Travel, while Air Malta and Britannia Tours placed second and third respectively.

This year over 800 different sellers and companies were nominated in the five categories. The top five in each category were closely vetted by the Servizz bi Tbissima Board to first ensure that the votes received were valid and according to the competition’s terms and conditions and to check that nominated traders abided by the award’s code of conduct in their day-to-day operations. The Board also checked that these companies adhered to regulations and in case of disputes, it was confirmed that these were dealt with promptly with minimum inconvenience for consumers. 

The companies that placed first in each of the five categories received a trophy, a certificate and the right to use the Servizz bi Tbissima logo on their promotional material.