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Consumers Work
For Free For The Government
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Consumers Work
For Free For The Government
The current
"Ley de Defensa al Consumidor" (consumer
law) practically obligates the consumer to
work, and for free, for the government, as
the law, even though it allows for sanctions
against the offending business, it does not
compensate the consumer.
And that is perhaps the main reason for few
complaints filed against retailers and
businesses providing a faulty product or
service, as the administrative process is
cumbersome and costly to the consumer.
Adriana Rojas, lawyer for the Asociacion de
Consumidores Libres (Association of Free
Consumers) considers that it the objective
of the law was to protect consumers, it
would have contained better tools to resolve
complaints with better results and at a
faster pace.
The problems, according to Rojas and other
consumer advocates, is that the law is very
general on the rights and obligations of the
consumer and the business or public
institution.
An example offered by Rojas is a complaint
filed by a customer of a restaurant who
suffers food poising. The law allows the
offending restaurant to be sanctioned, but
there is no compensation for the consumer
filing the complaint, not even getting the
money paid for the toxic meal.
In this example, like many others, the
consumer is effectively working, for free,
for the Ministerio de Economica. And adding
insult to injury, the consumer is also stuck
with footing the bill (time and out of
pocket expenses) to file the complaint.
And it is that fact alone that discourages
many consumers to file a complaint.
Another problem with the consumer law is
ignorance on the part of the consumer and in
some cases on the part of the business.
The lack of funding has not allowed many
consumer associations to educate the public
on their rights and obligations, nor is any
consumer education taught in the schools,
according to Rojas.
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