Six Rights of the Consumer
Imagine buying a new home theatre, and the first time you play it, there is no sound. It is good news that consumer rights exist which protect an individual from such situations involving defective goods. There are various human protection rights, including the 1964 Act of Civil Rights, that ensures a workplace free of discrimination and the 1970 Act of Occupational Safety that ensures workers have a safe working place (Eze, 2011). Consumers are another vulnerable group that needs protection. Therefore, President J.F. Kennedy came up with the four primary consumer rights in 1962. More rights were later added and were named the Consumer Bill of rights endorsed in 1985 by the United Nations (Eze, 2011). Today there are six consumer rights, including the right to be selective, be informed, to safety, be heard, to redress, and be educated, which will be explored further in this discussion.
The Right to be Selective/ Choose
The United States has a market economy that allows selection according to their preferences from a variety of services and goods. Businesses are in a competition to sell their services or goods to clients (consumers). Offers in the market come with new brands or products, higher qualities, lowered prices, or improved services to increase the customer’s buy-in. Choices are availed by competition, and when it lacks, the consumers are affected the most. The government has the necessary power and capacity to ensure the markets stay competitive. It can utilize the laws of anti-trust to dismantle monopolies or disabling their emergence (Eze, 2011). It may sometimes prevent a large corporation from buying a smaller organization as it results in market control. This means that service and product providers are not allowed to use means that are not ethical to push others out of the market. Some of these unethical conducts include collusion, cutting price, or gouging it to monopolize the market (Eze, 2011).
Safety Right
What comes first for a consumer is safety. Products and services need to be safe for use. Manufactures have product liability responsibility to ensure that the product made has met all safety requirements. For instance, appliances or tools ought to be accompanied by safety devices for the protection of the consumer, including simple and stipulated instruction manuals. The federal regulations in place ensure that items such as food, clothing, and toys are free of harm. Through standards of safety, products are measured as safe or unsafe for use by the U.S. Commission of Consumer Product Safety (Eze, 2011).
Right to be Heard
Considering the aforementioned home theatre example, the individual has the right to voice his or her concerns about the defective, faulty, or deficient marketed items with no fright of recourse. Another example is an online posted negative review of a customer’s bad experience at the airport. If this claim is valid, then the individual is not liable to any legal sanctions by the airport’s management. Businesses’ primary stakeholders are the customers; hence their principal aim is customer satisfaction. The customers’ desk in all organizations is to listen to their clients’ concerns.
The Right to Correction of Issues
In the case of the home theatre, the individual has a right for the sound problem to be fixed. Product warranties usually aid the process. It is not all the time that items bought, especially appliances that they perform as expected. With the warranty, the customer can take back the defective item where the business will fix, refund the money, or replace it. Customers are also allowed to inquire how the matter can be resolved when the business’ correction measures are not in place. If the service or product providers are not in the capacity to help or refuses to, then a federal agency is the next go-to.
Right to be Informed
The consumer’s most fundamental right is the right to information. It is essential that customers can access all the necessary information (through adequate labeling) about the product or service available for purchase or marketed to ensure an informed decision is made (Eze, 2011). Customers have the responsibility to read labels and internalize the nutritional facts. It is essential that clients do their homework before any purchase. For instance, a drug manufacturing company is expected to list all the elements encompassed in each medicine.
Right to Consumer Education
This ought not to be confused with the right to be informed. IT refers to the customer’s right to have knowledge of the workings of the market system (Eze, 2011). Customers should be aware of how to obtain the best value for money or that different shops contain the same goods but may charge differently.
Conclusion
According to the Consumer Bill of Rights, a consumer has six rights. After 1962, Kennedy’s four fundamental rights were added to include two more. A consumer is protected from poor services or a defective product. However, it is up to the consumer to ensure his or her rights are respected…