How to File a Consumer Complaint in Colombia Using the SIC Portal After the Direct Claim for Faulty Merchant Goods

You paid for a phone or a laptop, it died a few weeks later, and the store keeps telling you to come back next week. Posting an angry review feels good, but it does not make anyone repair, replace or refund anything. In Colombia, the filing that can order repair, replacement, or return of the money paid is a demanda de protección al consumidor before the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC). It is available only after the direct claim, except when precautionary measures are requested.

This guide is general information, not a lawyer's opinion. If your case is complicated or the amount is large, talk to a Colombian attorney.

Which problem are you actually dealing with?

Before you open any portal, sort your problem. Only the first path below gets the full walkthrough here.

• A merchant sold you a faulty product and refuses the warranty or refund: this is the SIC demanda path.
• A private person sold you something and vanished: a merchant-warranty case is not the same thing. See the section on where not to file.
• A bank or insurer: different authority.
• An airline: administrative complaints go elsewhere.

My honest opinion: most people lose weeks because they file the wrong kind of document in the wrong place. Get the path right first.

What the SIC case can and cannot order

The filing that opens a real case is called a demanda. The SIC tells users not to label it a queja, denuncia or reclamo, because those words do not open the case that can order a concrete remedy. A queja or denuncia can start supervision of a business, but by itself it does not order the merchant to repair, replace or refund your purchase.

The remedies the SIC's own demand model lists are repair, replacement with an identical or similar new good, and return of the money paid. Damages are not a general add-on: indemnity is limited to the cases in Article 56, numeral 3 of Law 1480 of 2011, and other damages belong in the ordinary courts. Likewise, a lawsuit over injury caused by a defective product goes to the ordinary courts, not to this summary action.

Do not expect promises about speed or outcome. No official page I reviewed states a decision deadline, so treat anyone who quotes you one with suspicion.

Step one: the direct claim to the merchant

Before a demanda, you must first make a direct claim to the producer or supplier. It can be in writing, by phone or verbally, and you attach proof of it to the demanda. The one exception, per the SIC, is when you request precautionary measures.

My advice: do it in writing, always. Send an email or letter that identifies the product, the purchase date, the defect, and exactly what you want (repair, replacement or refund). Keep a copy, the send receipt or the written constancia. A verbal claim is legally possible but nearly impossible to prove later.

The producer or supplier must answer within 15 business days of receiving the claim, and the answer must include the evidence it relies on. Business days, not calendar days, so count carefully. Silence within that term is a grave indication against the merchant in the later case. It is not an automatic refund.

Warranty clock versus the retracto

Two different clocks confuse buyers, so keep them apart. Take a phone or laptop bought from a store as the example.

Warranty. Under Article 8, if no warranty term is stated, the legal warranty for a new product is one year from delivery. Used products whose legal warranty has expired may be sold with no warranty only if that fact is clearly informed and accepted in writing. If it is not, the product is understood to carry a three-month warranty. A longer written commercial warranty can exist, and a store cannot shrink it to three months. A lawsuit to enforce a warranty must be filed no later than one year after the warranty expires, and you must prove the direct claim was made while the warranty was still in force.

Retracto. This is a separate right of up to five business days from delivery, and it applies to sales using producer or supplier financing, timeshares, and non-traditional or distance methods (online and similar). You return the good by the same means and pay the return transport, and the supplier must return all the money paid, with no deduction, within 30 calendar days. Statutory exceptions exist, including personalized goods and services already started with your agreement. It is not a general right to return an ordinary in-store purchase, and it is not the 15-day answer period.

For the longer explanation of used-goods rights, read our used purchase warranty and returns guide. Spanish readers can also use the companion on garantía legal de productos usados y la ruta SIC.

File the demanda

If the merchant refuses, ignores you, or answers with nothing useful, you file at the SIC's Demande aquí – Sitio para las Partes on the SIC electronic office. That is the channel for consumer-protection demands, memorials and case tracking. The SIC lists the online filing as a trámite that does not generate a payment. That says nothing about a private lawyer's fees or copy costs. The SIC's virtual-process protocol also describes contactenos@sic.gov.co as an additional channel, but only for an actual demanda with the same legal requirements, not a casual complaint.

Follow the SIC's sample demand. It should include:

1. The parties: you and the merchant, with identification and contact details.
2. Numbered facts: what you bought, when, what failed, and what the store said.
3. Concrete pretensions: repair, replacement or refund, and any money amount in pesos.
4. Attachments: the invoice, photos, and the proof of your direct claim and any reply.
5. Physical and email addresses where you can be notified.

On identification: the SIC's sample uses a cédula de ciudadanía line, but it does not describe a separate foreigner portal, and it does not say a passport or cédula de extranjería is refused. Enter the identification the form accepts, and use an address and email you really monitor.

On lawyers: if your pretensions do not exceed 40 current monthly legal minimum wages, you do not need one. Above that, the demanda must be filed through a lawyer. I will not convert that into pesos here, so check the current figure at the official source.

After admission, the defendant is personally notified of the admission order. Later rulings are notified by estado, so you must watch your radicado number on the SIC notifications page. Missing an estado is an easy way to lose a case you were winning.

The SIC's physical filing desk is at Calle 24 No. 7-43, Bogotá (weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), but the virtual path is the one worth learning. Official starting points: SIC consumer protection and demands and case management.

Where not to file

• Banks, insurers and other supervised financial entities: contract disputes over financial, securities and insurance obligations go to the Superintendencia Financiera, not a general SIC demanda.
• Airlines: administrative passenger complaints (delays, cancellations, baggage, ticket refunds as a user complaint) go to the Superintendencia de Transporte, which does not act as a judge and does not award individual damages. For an individual payment order you can go to an ordinary civil judge or to the SIC's jurisdictional function, but only after a direct claim to the airline, which has 15 business days to answer. The SIC forwards air-passenger PQRS to Supertransporte.
• Private sellers: the statute and SIC forms direct the claim at a producer or supplier, so a person-to-person sale is not automatically the same warranty case. If someone took your money and disappeared, a consumer demanda against a merchant does not fix it. Read how to verify a Colombian seller before paying a deposit.

Before your next electronics purchase

The cheapest legal fight is the one you never need. Whether you buy from a store or a private seller, ask who exactly is selling, get the invoice or a written description of the item, photograph the device, and test it before handing over money. If it is a merchant, make sure the warranty terms are written down. If it is a private person, treat it as a private sale, inspect in person, and do not assume store-style warranty rights.

On Colombia Move, as of 1 October 2026, active listings showed 10 computers, 10 phones, and 6 tech accessories.

You can also browse phone listings and compare how each seller describes the condition and what they can show you.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ Do I have to complain to the store before I file at the SIC?

Yes, the direct claim is required before a consumer demanda, unless you are requesting precautionary measures. The merchant then has 15 business days to answer. Keep proof that it received your claim, because you attach it to the demanda. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Are those 15 days calendar days?

No, Article 58 of Law 1480 gives the producer or supplier 15 business days to answer your direct claim. If it stays silent, that is a grave indication against it in the later case, but it is not an automatic refund. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Do I need a lawyer to file with the SIC?

Not when your pretensions do not exceed 40 current monthly legal minimum wages. Above that amount, the SIC says the demanda must be filed through a lawyer. Check the current minimum wage at the official source to calculate your own cutoff. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Can a foreigner file without a cédula de ciudadanía?

The SIC publishes a sample demand with a cédula de ciudadanía line, but it does not describe a separate foreigner portal or say other documents are refused. Use the identification the form accepts, plus an address and email you actually check. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ I bought a used phone from a private person. Can the SIC order a refund?

The SIC action is aimed at the producer or supplier, so a private sale is not the same path as a store warranty. Inspect before paying and keep written proof of what was promised. A private-sale dispute may need different advice. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ The airline will not refund my ticket. Do I file the demanda at the SIC?

An administrative passenger complaint goes to the Superintendencia de Transporte. An individual order to pay is a different filing, before a civil judge or the SIC, and only after your direct claim to the airline and its 15 business days to answer. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Does filing the online demanda cost a fee?

The SIC service card for Demande aquí lists that online trámite as one that does not generate a payment. A lawyer, if you need one, is a separate cost, and the card is not a promise about the outcome. (verify with the official source, as accessed)