Consumer Ministry To Offer  Business "Back List"  On Their Website
The Dirección de Apoyo al Consumidor del Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio (MEIC) announced yesterday that it plans to use its internet website to public a "black list" of retailers that continually breach consumer rights.

Jorge Woodbridge, vice minister of MEIC, assures that the new internet website will give consumers more tools to protect themselves and make complaints of abuse following their purchases.

Consumers will have available a list of retailers with complaints against them and any fines imposed by the MEIC. The black list will include businesses who sell services, like travel agencies and clubs, in addition to retailers.

To be fair, Woodbridge said, that the list will also include those businesses who made conciliatory offers to their customers and the resolution of the problem.

The website will also include a page that is exclusively dedicated to "ventas a plazo" - sales on credit or time, if you will - focusing the activities of businesses who sell their products or services for payment over time, like a travel club, or appliances.

Major "importadoras" - retailers at supposed discounted prices - offer appliances and other household items on "comfortable" payment plans. The MEIC is not against this practice but wants to make sure consumers are well informed when making a decision to purchase and that the interest rate, that can be up to 50% or more per year, be clear.

Television sets are the big item currently being offered by the importadoras. Plasma, LCD, projection, flat screen televisions are being offered with "fantastic" buy now, pay later promotions. For example, one importadora is offering a 30" LCD television for a payment of only ¢19.045 (us$37) every two weeks or ¢775.630 in cash.

It takes a magnifying glass to read the fine print that the payments are spread over 36 months and an initial payment of ¢180.060 is required, bringing the final cost of the item to ¢1.551.300 or double that of the cash price.

The newspaper ad does not include the complete terms, like if the balance can be paid off early without the accumulated interest or what charges are added for later payment.

What the MEIC is concerned is that the consumer is aware of the commitment at the time of the purchase and the website will list those less than honest businesses or businesses who have problems with their customers.