THE issue of consumer protection has become a burning one as increasingly more products and services become available on our local market, which is natural as living standards rise and people have more disposable income. However, in that process many service providers and businesses simply rip off consumers who have little or no avenue for redress as our consumer protection laws and systems have not grown adequately to meet the new challenges.
In the transport sector consumers are faced with the daily poor service they receive from minibus operators-overloading, loud music, uncouth and vile language and behaviour etc.
In the markets and grocery stores they are faced with poor quality of short weighting of food items and overpricing etc. The commercial stores frequently sell poor quality equipment, furniture etc at high prices. With respect to the public sector there are frequent billing and disconnection problems with GPL and WWI. In the case of the former, unscheduled blackouts are a norm.
In fact the number and variety of infractions consumer face from goods and service providers is too large to be listed.
Therefore there is a need for a significant boost in our capacity to protect hapless consumers and in this regard perhaps there is need for a closer collaboration among agencies involved with consumer protection and more intensive consumer education programmes.
However, it must be acknowledged that consumer watchdog organisations such as the GNBS and PUC have been making genuine efforts to ensure that consumers are not ripped off but like so many other agencies in Guyana, they have a man power and technical capacity constraints And this is one aspect of the functioning of these agencies which should be addressed sooner than later.
On this note though the PUC recently provided some heartening news announcing that it has issued new customer standards for GPL which are in accordance with the new piece of legislation- Electricity Sector Reform (Amendment) Act 2010.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is responsible for the electricity sector, approved the schedule and on February 18, 2011 spelt out penalties to be applied to GPL, through credits to consumers’ accounts that must be paid if and when the supplier is found in breach of the time frames.
The PUC should be commended for moving so swiftly to implement the customer standards in relation to GPL following the newly approved legislation.
It would be hoped that other areas of consumers concerns would also be looked with similar swiftness.
In this regard, the possibility of bringing the operations of mini buses and other forms of public transport under the purview of the PUC because clearly the quality of service they provide is unacceptable.
Consumer protection has to be an integral component of our ongoing socio-economic developmental policy and programme because it is indivisible from the process of improving people’s living standards’
According to Factoidz.com: Under the modem philosophy of marketing, the consumer is supposed to be the king and business is expected to provide maximum possible satisfaction to consumers. But in reality, consumers are often exploited. In a country like India there is shortage of many products. A few firms enjoy monopoly powers in the market place. A large majority of consumers are ignorant and illiterate and do not know their rights. They are poor and there is lack of unity among them. Due to all these reasons, consumers are often deprived of their rights. They are often exploited through misleading advertisements, poor quality goods, fractional weights and measures, overcharging, etc.