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