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CONSUMER EXPERIENCE AND PROTECTION IN
BUSINESS
REASONS FOR
REGULATING
BUSINESS ACTIVITY
To avoid anti-competitive practices
Avoid Unfair trading
Avoid Misleading marketing
BENEFITS OF
REGULATION
Protect business and customers fromnegative impacts
Guarantee minimum standards
E.g. consumer protection, health and safety at work
Promote good practices
Promote an ethical business behavior
PROTECTING THE
CUSTOMER
Of merchantablequality
Fit for thepurpose
‘As described’
Reasonablecare and
skill
At a reasonable
charge
Within a reasonable
time
FIAGC
Objective: To promote cooperation among government agencies ofcustomer protection within Latin America, through information exchangeand experiences around common interest topics; as well as maintaining amechanism of Institutional coordination among its members.
This organization also works as a platform for multilateral informaldialogue specialized on the analysis and discussion of customer’s publicpolicy. Its members are the government agencies (one per country) whichhave the responsibility to promote and protect consumers’ rights throughthe application of law in each country.
EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT
1. Protection of consumers' health and safety
a. General Product Safety Directive
b. Community System for the Exchange of Information
c. European Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System
d. Dangerous substances
e. Foodstuffs
f. Cosmetics
g. Toys
h. Medicinal products
i. European Medicines Evaluation Agency
2. Protection of consumers' economic and legal interests
a. Liability for defective products
b. Unfair terms in consumer contracts
c. Door-to-door sales
d. Distance selling
e. Packaging and indication of price
f. Car prices
h. Consumer credit
i. Electronic and cross-border payments
j. Advertising
LEY ORGÁNICA DE
DEFENSA DEL
CONSUMIDOR (ORGANIC
LAW ON CONSUMER
PROTECTION)
Customers’ rights:
health and security
protection when
consuming goods or services access to clear,
adequate and complete
information about all the goods and
services offer in the market
suppliers must offer
competitive and high
quality goods and services
transparent, equal and non-discriminatory
treatment
Right to exercise legal
action, lawsuits
education oriented to
the promotion of responsible consumption
CustomerObligations
Promote and exercise the responsible
consumption of goods and
services
Avoid risks that could go
against customers’
health and life
Be aware of the effects of
their consumption
on the environment
Get as much information as they can to be aware of the use of goods
and services to be consumed.
SUPPLIERS
Facilitate all the necessary information of the offered goods
and services.
Suppliers must provide the good or service they’ve already
agreed together with the consumer.
The price must be of public knowledge.
Suppliers must give legal bills to every customer.
Suppliers must provide complementary components for the
goods and services acquired by the customers.
Suppliers must offer professional services and provide a
quality service.
UNDERSTANDING
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
Company’s first concern should be the quality of customer’sexperience. In fact, customer experience is in each aspect ofcompany’s offering, for instance, quality of customer care,advertising, packaging, product itself and the offered service.
Moreover, in the case of product offering, there exist aremarkable coordination with product development andmarketing to improve customer experiences. Some factors thatexercise influence on customer experience are:
A positive customer experience can guarantee a good corporate image and customer’s satisfaction and loyalty.
Quality Cost Presentation
Customerservice staff
MARKETING AND
THE LAW
Marketing is designed to achieve profitable sales. It involves the use
of powerful tools to manipulate the decisions of individuals and other
firms in the private and public sectors. Boundaries must be set to
define the limits of acceptable behaviour.
-
- Magazine and newspaper ads.
- Radio and TV commercials
- Television Shopping Channels
- Social networks: Twitter / Facebook
- Leaflets and brochures
Focused on acting on complaintsand proactively checking the media to take action against misleading or
offensive advertisement
The ASA Council is the jury thatdecides whether advertisementshave breached the AdvertisingCodes.
Nearly all members judge bothnon-broadcast and broadcastadvertisements,
THE ROLE OF LAW
• Consumer protection: laws regulating product safety, honesty
in product description and rights to refunds and exchanges
• Credit : laws requiring lenders to provide full information about
a loan including the Annual Percentage Rate (APR); also
giving time for borrowers to change their minds
• Information: obligation to disclose information held about
consumers
• Child protection: age limits for the sale of alcohol and
tobacco products; film certification.
CONSUMERS MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT:
Consumer Warranties and Service Contracts
Dealing with Warranty Breach: Service contracts cannot be
canceled after you signed them, but according to the FTC, there
is a cooling off period where under certain circumstances, you might be able to void a
contract
Keeping an Eye on Scams: If there is a transaction
recognizable, question the biller in writing. If you think a charge is fraudulent, also notify your
card company in writing no later than 60 days after the charge
appears
Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act
(FACTA) amendments to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), people are entitled to a
free copy of their consumer report, at their request, once
every 12 months
MEETING AND EXCEEDING
CONSUMER PROTECTION
LAWS TO DRIVE
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
A DSGI INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY
Leading European retailer of consumer electronics. In the UK includes: Dixons, PC world, The
Link and Currys
This year, turnover exceeded 7 billion euros. 1/3 sales from
outside countries.
Product range includes: Plasma and LCD Tvs, peripherals, digital photo, games consoles, ipods,
MP3 players and small appliances
1. Operate with honesty
2. Outstanding service tocustomers
3. Respecting colleagues
4. Seek for ways to improveperformance
5. Work together
Buyers want to buy products at the best price possible. However, retailers must ensure that they make a profit by selling products at a price which covers all costs and provides a profit for risk taking and
future development
The main consumer protection laws in the UK are:
Sale of Goods Act which gives customers fundamental legal rights.
Trade Descriptions Act requires a trader to describe goods accurately.
Consumer Protection Act which deals with both pricing and product safety
Costs include the price of purchase, staff, operation costs.
Buyers expect proper price, quality and distribution
SALE OF GOODS ACT 1979
DSGi has relationships with all its suppliers to
ensure that where repairs are necessary, they
can be carried out quickly and efficiently.
DSGi goes to great lengths to ensure that its
policies not only meet the requirements of the
Sale of Goods Act but go beyond what the
legislation demands.
DSGi also has its own service operations that
deal mainly with repairs to brown goods and PC
Servicecall, which deals with PC repairs.
The vast majority of PC problems can be solved
over the telephone and are due to software
problems rather than electrical or mechanical
faults.
TRADE DESCRIPTIONS ACT 1968
AND CUSTOMER PROTECTION ACT
1987
DSGi produces around 5,000 advertisements a year, some of
which may contain descriptions for hundreds of products
DSGi recognises the critical role of Trading Standards
departments in ensuring that standards are maintained. It works
closely with its Home Authority, Hertfordshire Trading Standards.
It has recently developed a programme called "Building Bridges".
This encourages a dialogue between individual store managers
and Trading Standards officers to develop a better understanding
and better relations at local level.
CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1987
The Consumer Protection Act governs both the pricing of products
and product safety. The way in which prices are presented to
customers is controlled by code of practice. This covers most
forms of promotional marketing. There are rules which deal for
example with how sale prices can be claimed, introductory offers,
recommended prices and free offers.
Product safety is of fundamental importance. A dangerous
product, particularly an electrical product, can kill. DSGi
recognises this and has its own UKAS approved laboratory to
check the safety of a product before it puts it on sale.
OTHER LAWS
Consumer credit Act 1974: Many consumers make purchases on credit. This helps them to budget and spread the payments over a period of time. All of the larger and more expensive products sold by DSGi are available on credit.
Video Recordings Act: DSGi's training ensures that all staff are aware of the law and a prompt on-the-till system appears whenever an age restricted title is about to be sold. This requires the salesperson to ask the customer their age if they appear to be below the legal minimum age.
The Competition Comission: The Competition Commission's work is aimed at ensuring that markets work well for consumers. It is important that there is fair and unrestricted competition within the market, otherwise a large company which has a very large market share can operate unfairly and may try to fix prices or drive competition out of the market. There are very severe penalties for any company found operating in this way.
SOURCES:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/10/know-your-consumer-protection-laws.asp#axzz2BVSPgHz6
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/4_10_2_en.htm
http://www.fiagc.org/organigrama.php
http://www.asa.org.uk/Consumers/What-we-cover.aspx
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/business-theory/external-environment/marketing-and-the-law.html
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/dsg-international/meeting-and-exceeding-consumer-protection-laws-to-drive-competitive-advantage/conclusion.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=TggMk5jjENs