LONG before online orders became part of our lives, we already had a problem with errant merchants making up their own “no return no exchange” policies.
Even back then, laws have been passed to counter those policies, but I guess the world never runs out of bad people who always come up with bad rules.
According to Undersecretary Amanda Nograles of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the “no returns, no refund” or “no exchange” policy falls under deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts or practices, which is in violation of Republic Act 7394, also known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines.
In the old days, all that we needed as proof of purchase were the official receipts that we get when we buy any product in the stores. That was the way it was then, and that is the way it should still be now.
But again, no thanks to the bad merchants, that is actually not the way it is now. And to some extent, it may have even gotten worse now. It appears that requiring customers to present videos as proof of delivery and identity is just another way of violating the law.
Refusing to refund or exchange for any reason boils down to the same thing, and that means not honoring the rights of consumers to either get a refund or get a good replacement.
Violating the rights of consumers is a crime even when there were no online orders, and it is still a crime now, more so with online orders, except that now, we are talking about serious cybercrime.
‘NOT SO HAPPY’
Why is it that in this country, the rules always seem to favor big business and not the ordinary customers?
Well, let me put that in the right context. Based on the laws, the rules are supposed to be in favor of the ordinary customers, but somehow, the owners of big businesses are almost always able to twist the laws in their favor, to the disadvantage of the customers.
What is it about big business that somehow causes them to give way to unfair practices even if generally speaking, they are perceived to be well-behaved, law-abiding citizens?
Is it the lust for more profits, even if they already have to much of it?
Or is it the desire to make their stockholders happy at the expense of making their customers sad?
A certain “loyalty card” was introduced to the market many years ago. It was a very good product that made many of their customers happy, presumably because it brought in more loyal customers, as it was honored by a fast food chain and by other participating merchants.
There was really nothing wrong with the product, except perhaps that there was something wrong with their customer relations policies.
My loyalty card had expired, and I was told that there were still some credits in it. I was told by the staff of a fast food chain branch that I had to go to their main office to renew it. So I went, only to be told that I could no longer get my credits, because my old card had already expired.
I said the card expired, yes, but my money was not supposed to expire./PN
