Consumer pressure

Simply put, according to the Consumer Protection and Safety Act (No 30 of 1985, amended), a consumer is somebody who legitimately pays for some kind of goods or services.

It is more than that. The pressure comes even before paying. The lack of courtesy and counter assistance is horrible. Take our paediatrician and columnist, Dr David Bratt who, having had several bad experiences with discourtesy, had this headline to his column: “Teach people how to treat the public.” (Guardian, July 11). He wrote: “ People do not realise that serving people is not slave work. Make life easier. This is our country.” Our country? Sometimes you think when you enter some stores, you entering enemy country. The sour face you meet over the counter, the flippant answers you get, all this not only turns you off, but is bad for the owner and business.

Of course, you never know how the sales clerks are being treated, their work conditions etc. But, really, on the face of it, courtesy to customers is the A.B.C. of good business. For one thing, it encourages people to return – good for business.

Faced with an ugly-mannered salesclerk, columnist Lennox Grant, vowed never to return there again, adding: “It’s my lonely and ultimately ineffectual way of responding to indifferent, insensitive, even hostile and ignorant service.” (Express, Dec. 8, 2016).

You see, during the last five years I have been compiling the various types of customers’ complaints. A lot has to do with cell-phone scams and consumer run-around. I think people should use the government Consumer Protection Division more. Where is it located? Do they have an office in San Fernando, Arima, Sangre Grande, Tobago — with easy access for distressed consumers? Well, to tell you the truth, I myself don’t know. In fact, Point Fortin resident, I. Edwards, in a letter to the editor, wrote: “I would like to know what the Consumer Affairs Division is doing about the steady increases in food prices. Have they noticed the prices in the supermarkets lately? All hard-working persons would have noticed. When the decrease in VAT was enforced, all prices again went up although there was supposed to be a decrease.” (Express, June 9).

Now, grocers will have answers ranging from forex to labour costs, etc. But as early as March 16 last year, Martin Daly, SC, challenged consumers to “hit business hard, in their pockets, where they would feel it when confronted with unscrupulous business practices.” Admitting the Consumer Division has “no teeth,” Trade and Industry Minister, Paula Gopee-Scoon said “a new National Consumer Policy was being developed.” (March 15, 2016).

Mobile phone, cable and TSTT rates and service are big issues for consumers now. Banks too. The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) took exemplary action for consumers. In media advertisements, TATT stated: “Call 800-8288 if you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint you have lodged with your provider of any one of the following services: mobile, fixed line, internet, data, cable and satellite television.” (Newsday, June 29), Of course, one swallow does not a summer make, but here is another encouraging sign.

Last month, (June29) Ministry of finance Permanent Secretary, Vishnu Dhanpaul, publicly stated that it is “totally unacceptable” that so many government pensioners had to wait several years to get their pension. This kind of suffering at government counters is worse than just discourtesy. It is inhumane.

Earlier, 65-year old Viola Smith, noted that “People came as early as 3 a.m., lining up for a service number to get a birth certificate, waiting for hours, only to be turned back since only a limited number could be served.” (Express, January 28) She asked: What about people coming with babies, the elderly, the disabled, why don’t they have shelter for people coming early? Bad consumer service and citizen hardships are all around now.

But such things could be prevented, especially with the current economic situation.

G o o d m a n n e r s , c o n s u me r courtesy and more humane treatment among o u r s e l v e s could help ease the pain.