CONSUMER AWARENESS

BEING AWARE

~ Our Responsibilities as consumers

Our fundamental responsibility as consumers is to be aware of our rights and being responsible so companies or others cant take advantage of us. We can do this by-

By Being aware of our rights

• Exercising our rights
• Being cautious of what we purchase
• Insist on a cash memo
• Be aware of the variety of goods and services in the market

RIGHT TO SAFETY

This is mainly applicable to healthcare, pharmaceuticals and the food processing industry. it is also applicable to industries that have an indirect impact on health such as automobiles, housing, domestic appliances, housing etc.

According to this right consumers have the right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property

It is estimated every year that thousands or millions of citizens of India are killed or seriously injured by immoral practices by doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and the automobile industry

Right to Safety

This is why before purchasing products consumers should be careful. We can do this by

• Insisting on the quality of the products as well as on the guarantee of the products and services.
• preferably purchase quality marked products such as ISI,AGMARK, etc
• Our responsibility is to follow proper instruction for proper use and maintenance of products.

Nestle’s Maggi noodle scare in India that spread like an epidemic in 2015 has been the biggest consumer concern and action since that of pesticides in Coca-Cola and Pepsi products in 2006. Both these public outrages have been in response to the violation of the ‘Right to safety’ clause under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

ISI MARK

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

The right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices

. Consumer should insist on getting all the information about the product or service before making a choice or a decision.

Right to Information

This right must ideally make sure that all consumable products have been labeled in a standard manner containing the cost, quantity, the ingredients and instructions given to use the product safely. Ex- a medicine should contain information about its expiry, side- effects, ingredients, proper dosage etc. They should not contain any false information

This right aims to achieve protection against misleading information in the areas of financing, advertising, labeling, and packaging.

if the product is defective the consumer can complain or ask for compensation

RIGHT TO CHOOSE

The definition of Right to Choose as per the Consumer Protection Act 1986 is ‘the right to be assured, wherever possible, to have access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices’.

i.e they should not be forced to select a product and need to make the decision themselves according to their liking.

If a person receives a service and decides to opt out of it, they have the right to do so regardless of who they are.

For regulating the market place, there is just one factor required and that is competition.The existence of cartels, oligopolies and monopolies prove to be counterproductive to consumerism.

Right to choose

Ex- If someone is unsatisfied with their internet service provider and decide that they no longer want their service, they have the right to drop their service, no matter how much they pressurize them not to.

RIGHT TO SEEK REDRESSAL

• This is the right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers. It also includes right to fair settlement of the genuine grievances of the consumer.

• This right affords compensation depending on the damage caused to the consumers against unethical trade practice of the seller.

The Process to file complaint with Consumer Courts in India, first you will need to buy a copy of the Consumer Protection Act. The format for filing a complaint is simple with the guidelines being provided as well. It is advisable to draft your complaint in a clear and concise manner testifying the facts and support it with the mandatory documentation.

• Consumers have the right to get their claims settled in their favor in case of being cheated and exploited by the producers. Under the Consumer Protection Act 1986, a three-tier judicial system has been formed. This act provides the establishment of consumer disputes redressal agencies at district, state, and national level. Consumers can invoke their right to redressal and right to represent.

Right to seek redressal

• Along with your complaint and the affidavit, you must attach a list of documents that you are submitting as part of evidence and references in the complaint file. Make sure that you attach only photocopies of the evidence documents.

• Sign and attach a Vakalatnama along with your documents. This will give your lawyer the authorization to represent your case in the court.

The government has also made a national consumer helpline where you can call with your grievance

According to this right if a consumer feels exploited, they have the right to be heard and assured that his interest would receive consideration

This right includes the right to representation in the government and in other policy making bodies. Under this right the companies must have complaint cells to attend the complaints of customers.

This right helps to empower the consumers of India for putting forward their complaints and concerns fearlessly and raising their voice against products or even companies and ensure that their issues are taken into consideration as well as handled expeditiously.

The Consumers should form non-political and non-commercial consumer organizations which can be given representation in various committees formed by the Government and other bodies in matters relating to consumers.

Right to representation

RIGHT TO CONSUMER EDUCATION

It refers to a right that protects the consumer from various large companies of the products and services they sell. It is basically about informing people and giving them the required knowledge for living in a consumer society.

Right to consumer Education

The lack of consumer education is one of the biggest problems in our country. If people don't even know their rights, how will they exercise them.

Ignorance of consumers is the biggest cause of their exploitation

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

To understand how aware consumers are of their rights and to see how common violations of consumer rights are, I conducted a survey

The oldest person to take the survey is 68 years old.

https://forms.gle/YD5aod8Wx7HwyMXB6

Survey link

Tabulated responses

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10dPXoBnIbNoPxsxg2Lsji8rxvuhYHfnEsFJQQT54zns/edit?usp=sharing

Q. DO YOU CHECK THE MRP OF A PRODUCT?

48.4% of people said that they always check the MRP

26.3% of people said that they check it most of the time. (total= 74.7%)

This means that the majority of people contesting in this survey know the importance of checking the MRP and make it a point to check it for the most part

16.8% of people reportedly say they sometimes check the MRP while 8.4% barely or never check it. (Total= 25.2%)

While the majority may know the importance of MRP there is still about a fourth of people who don't.

Q. Have you ever been mistreated by any service? If so did you try and complain?

According to these results 70.5% of these people have been mistreated by some sort of service at least once in their life

This gives us insight into the situation of consumers in the country. The most no. of people have been mistreated by the call center.

12.6% of people didn't complain

31.6% of people complained but the service didn't pay heed to them(violating their right to be heard)

while 26.3%of people received a satisfactory response

31.6% of people complained but received no satisfactory response showing us that a large amount of services don't have good customer care. This shows that while 57.9% of people complained, some part of the population didn't, thus they didn't exercise their rights as consumers and might be unaware of them (29.5% of people reported not to have experienced any such issues with their services )

Q. DO YOU GENERALLY CHECK FOR A QUALITY MARK?

Checking for a quality mark is important. This is because it is an indication of the safety of the product

33% of people look for a quality mark before buying a product.

44.2% sometimes check while 22.1% don't usually check

This shows that the majority of people know the importance of a quality mark but a small sect of people who aren't aware. This can also be because sometimes people cannot afford to buy items with quality marks.

Q. ARE YOU AWARE OF YOUR RIGHTS UNDER COPRA 1986?

A whopping percentage of people either don't know what COPRA 1986 means or didn't know the rights that it implies (16.8% and 53.7% respectively)

Only a small sliver of people know their rights while 24.2% know them somewhat.

The majority of people aren't informed about their basic rights. This means that may not take action once exploited or worse wouldn't even know that they are in some situations.

Q. ARE YOU AWARE OF WHAT INTERNET COOKIES CAN DO?

Everyone who has ever been to a website has encountered the word "cookies". While for the most part cookies aren't harmful and sometimes just needed for the normal functioning of a website they can be a breach of privacy and indirectly cause harm to the consumer

Here is the link to a helpful video that explains the usage of cookies

Only 29.5% of people know what cookies mean and 24.2% know somewhat. Others reported to either not know what it means or have heard of the term but don't know what it implies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWw7Wd2gUJk

Q. DO YOU DENY THE RECEIPT AFTER PURCHASING A PRODUCT?

Most people keep the receipt after purchasing products while some people (31.6%) keep it depending on the product

No one said no. This is a good indicator that shows most people know why keeping receipts is important

Keeping the receipt after buying something is important because if the product is defective or something went wrong, you have proof of it.

Q. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SOLD SOMETHING PAST ITS EXPIRATION DATE

45.5% of people said that they always check the expiry date and 20% of people said they had never been sold something past its expiry.

12.6% weren't sure. This implies they don't generally check the expiry.

22.1% said that they had been sold something past its expiry.

People who don't check the expiry have probably never had a bad experience with it making them less cautious. While not having a bad experience is a good thing, it is important to check it as consuming something past its expiry can make you seriously ill. Checking the expiry date is important as it will prevent you from ingesting food products that are harmful for you.

Q. DO YOU KNOW WHAT A CONSUMER FORUM IS AND WHERE ONE MIGHT BE?

Most people (93.8%) know what a consumer forum is, but only 24% know where one in their area is. This indicates that most people don't consider their experience to be worthy of going to one as they could resolve it or have never really had such a terrible experience.

Consumer Forums are special courts for consumers who buy or avail services. Consumer forums works under/as per Consumer Protection Act 1986 (COPRA 1986). Any customer who falls under definition of consumer under COPRA 1986 can lodge his/her complaint in forums.

Q. HAS A PRODUCT AS ADVERTISED NOT MET THOSE STANDARDS AFTER YOU BOUGHT IT?

75.8% people have reported that advertisements misled them into thinking the product was something its not

This shows that Ads are often not fact based and can be unethical. It can be very easy to become swayed by them. Companies often exaggerate what their products can do and most people have fallen prey to it.

DURING COVID- 19

During the pandemic people have started buying their products online. This means that the majority of consumer activity has shifted online

According to my survey and research

The majority of people say that they have impulsively shopped more online than they would normally in a physical setting.

(Total- 64.3%)

78.9% of people report to have shifted to online platforms to shop during the pandemic.

Others say that they rarely or never feel impulsive or that buying things in a store makes them more impulsive. This means that they're very cautious or composed.

Data mining(It can compromise privacy, security, and misuse information) and other such ways,(such as misuse of cookies) give websites the ability to know the kind of products that would grab your attention and they might give you personalized ads. This may make people more susceptible to exaggerated advertisements which is why so many people report to be more impulsive while shopping online.

CASE STUDY

Rajesh Sakre vs The State Bank of India

Mr Sakre was a tea vendor in Bhopal who was only able to acquire education till the 5th Grade

According to a report in Bhopal Samachar, Mr Sakre had Rs 20,000 in his account, from which he withdrew a sum of Rs 10,800. However, on his next ATM visit he realized his account had been wiped clean.

Mr Sakre went to one of the Bank's branches to complain but the officers shrugged, and blamed him for the mess. He then made an appeal to the bank's Mumbai headquarters, but it didn't work. As a last resort, he filed a case in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.

He didn't have enough money to hire a lawyer, so he went head to head with the bank's lawyers to fight his own case in court.

COMPENSATION

The bank insisted that it was Mr Sakre who had withdrawn the amount in question. But they could not produce any evidence like CCTV footage to back their claim.

After about a dozen hearings, Mr Sakre won the battle.

On June 16, the consumer court ruled in his favor and ordered the State Bank of India to return Rs 9,200 along with 6% interest within two months. In addition to this, the bank also has to cough up Rs 10,000 for the mental anguish they caused their consumer and another sum of Rs 2,000 for his legal expenses.

CASE STUDY

DID YOU KNOW?

it has been found that only 20 percent of the Indian population is really aware of the six basic consumer rights

Buyers are often unaware of their rights as a consumer and bad products or services are thought of as unavoidable. Even if they decide to approach the consumer court, many of them lose their will to fight as the case may take one to three years and sometimes they simply give up. In addition, many times, consumers are found to have no proper evidence or documents to support their cases.

Mr Sakre's story is of beating the odds and gives us an insight into what a consumer has the power to do and what happens when they exercise their power. It shows us the importance of consumer education.

It is important to exercise our rights as a consumer in order to stop producers from taking advantage of us, not only for ourselves but for other people as well. We need to stop depending on regulators for the protection of our rights and realise our power as consumers to speak out against injustice and understanding that our voice matters. If everyone excepts the system as it is we'll never be able to progress as a society.