SABECO at great pains to ensure protection of consumers’ interests

SABECO is due to hear announcement of the case result this month

The representative for SABECO shared with VIR that the company is maintaining its utmost efforts to attempt to solve the issue as well as ensure the customer's rights first and foremost.

The company, he said, always complies with the laws of Vietnam and also complies with the court's requirements, while the company understands that it is necessary to rely on consumers to survive.

In September 2018, a consumer bought a barrel of Saigon beer bottles – of those, the customer alleges that one bottle was found to have under half of its contents. The consumer kept the bottle to complain to SABECO about the poor quality of the product.

In a letter of intention to sue the company, the customer asked a court to force SABECO to compensate for the price of the beer bottle (around 45 US cents) as well as damages to mental health equivalent to 10 months of the minimum wage as regulated by the government for the Ho Chi Minh City area – equal to around $1,700. The customer also asked SABECO to apologise in three consecutive issues of four major newspapers. The consumer eventually changed his demands, keeping the lawsuit request intact while also asking for compensation of $1 million.

According to SABECO, the compensation's value is not the main issue. It wants to ensure that customer complaints are respected and investigated thoroughly, to ensure a smooth production process. However, it refuses to respond to unreasonable requests.

On March 5, SABECO's legal representative officially refused the demands, claimed there were conflicts between the customer's reasoning and that of other people who had made declarations on the situation. Ultimately, SABECO believes that the pursuant was not the person who drank from the bottle, and therefore could not be the person to demand compensation.

The final result is due to be announced by the court on April 20. Whatever the result, SABECO insists that it will continue to make efforts to solve this particular issue, at the same time as protecting its customers.