A consumer is every person, using any commodity or some service. Why are Consumer Laws important for us? Of what use can they be?
Much has changed in the laws of the costumers over past 30 years. The Fair Trading Act from 1987 and the Consumer Transactions Act form 1972 make the legislation now. The law gives people the right to expect the services and products of highest quality and gives the consumer right to complain, when the product or service doesn't meet his expectations.
If you want to minimize the risk of being cheated or out of pocket, you should take some precautions before buying something or before having someone provide any service for you.
Well informed consumers have the ability to do the shopping reasonably. They know the prices of different products and compare them. Such consumers care for the quality of what they buy. They also read the warranties carefully. They know much about refunds and know that the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs may be helpful in handling the complaint.
The laws protecting consumers, concerns: buying services and goods, door-to-door trading, refunds and warranties, renovating, buying and building the house, renting an apartment, safety of the products, repairs, finances.
The basic rights of the consumer are as follow:
The consumer have the right to expect the services and goods he/she purchases to:
- have no faults (unless the consumer agreed to buy the product with some fault);
- suit its purpose (example: when you want the sunny yellow paint, you have to be given exactly such paint);
- be exactly such, as the retailer or the very name of the products says and suggests;
- be of appropriate quality- there has to be no defects, which were not showed to the costumer before buying, the performance of the product or service must be reasonably high considering the price and their description (example: a jacket cannot lose the buttons when you wear it the first time;
- have no information telling that the consumer should be confidential about any detail concerning the product.
You can never be deprived of any of these rights by any contract. Nevertheless, you don't have the right to want any refund if only you decide that you don't like, what you purchased.
There are some conducts, which may appear misleading I the rights.
According to the law, a trader cannot mislead the client about the quality, purpose or price of the good or service that you buy.
The conduct, that may be called misleading occurs on different presentations, in the advertisements or during sales talks. There are regulations, which say, that the reader cannot:
- State that the product is new, if it is not;
- Tell you the wrong place, of which the goods originated;
- Mislead you in reference to guarantee, warranty, refund or rights, which you as a costumer have;
- Offer you any additional gifts, when you buy the goods or service and not give it to you afterwards;
- Offer anything special, if he cannot supply it for this amount of money;
- Ask the customer to pay for anything that wasn't ordered by him;
- Tell the customer that someone else would acquire the product, if it is not true;
- Take money from you for something that cannot be supplied;
- Use special psychological techniques or get into your house to make you buy anything;
- Send the costumer and debit/credit card, if it was not asked for.
