Consumer Awareness: Rights and Responsibilities

To satisfy unlimited wants people purchase goods and services at a given price. But what to do in the case if the goods and services bought are found to be in bad quality or overcharged or measured less in quantity etc. In such situations. the consumers, instead of getting satisfaction, often feel cheated by the sellers who have sold the goods and services. Here, consumer awareness plays a significant role.

Consumer awareness is nothing but an act of making sure the buyer or consumers are aware of the information about products, goods, services, and consumer’s rights. Consumer awareness is important so that buyers can make the right decision and make the right choice at the right time. In this article, we will discuss consumer awareness, and consumer rights in detail.

Why There is a Need for Consumer Awareness?

The need for educating consumers about product quality and product price is significant and should not be ignored. The advancement of technology and emergence of sophisticated gadgets in the market and aggressive marketing strategies in the era of globalization has not only given a wide choice to consumers but also do not defend them with a plenitude of problems associated with such rapid changes.

There is an urgent and increasing necessity to educate and motivate the consumer to be attentive about the product's quality, and also the possible deficiencies in the services of the growing sector of public utilities.

In short, the consumer should be educated with respect to his rights as a consumer. He should be educated enough so that he is able to protect himself from any wrongful act on the part of the trader. In order to help consumers to be in such a state, there is a need to provide reliable and exhaustive information, which they can access without much effort and expense. Considering these issues, the Government of India and the State Government have made an effort to introduce a dispute redressal mechanism by means of the Consumer Protection Act. Apart from this, a lot more has to be done in the area of creating awareness. A suitable remedy should be suggested wherever there is a need. This becomes more significant in the rural areas, where there is widespread illiteracy.

Let us now discuss six different types of consumer rights which help consumers to protect themselves from any scams or fraud.

Six Consumer Rights: Everyone should be aware of

Right to Safety

Right to safety is a basic right that helps consumers to be protected against the marketing of such goods and services which are hazardous to life and property. Consumption of goods or services which are not up to the mark can have adverse effects on the consumer’s health and safety. In order to protect the consumer’s interest, they have a right to receive high- quality and reliable goods. For instance- Household goods like LPG cylinders if not sealed properly can cause immense damage to life and property, Stale food items can cause harm to buyer’s health, Low-quality cosmetics can cause similar harms.

Right to Be Informed

The consumer has a right to receive information about the quality, quantity, potency, standard, and price of the goods or services.This will not merely help him to make well- informed and thought decisions but also prevent himself from falling prey to high-pressure selling techniques. The right to information is used to shield consumers from deceptive advertising, misleading labels and packaging, high prices, etc.

Right to Choose

This right permits consumers to choose among a wide variety of goods and services without being forced to do so. In case of monopolies, the right to be assured of satisfactory goods and services at fair and reasonably priced.   It also includes the right to basic goods and services. The right to choose can be better employed in a competitive market where a wide range of goods and services are available at a competitive price.

Right to Be Heard

The above three rights are useless if there is no proper authority to listen to customer grievances. If a buyer is dissatisfied with the product or service, then one has the right to file a complaint against it in a consumer court and it has to be addressed within a set time frame. For instance, if a consumer buys an electronic Item and it starts malfunctioning, a consumer has all rights to take appropriate action by returning or replacing it. 

Right to Seek Redressal

This right states that If a consumer is not satisfied with a particular purchase, he has the right to get the product replaced, or even he can demand a refund for the product. The consumer may even ask for compensation in case a product or service causes severe harm to them.

Right to Customer Education

A consumer must be aware of his rights and responsibilities provided by the authorities regarding marketing practices. The consumer has all the authority to gain knowledge about his rights as a buyer. Lack of Consumer awareness is the most important issue our government should pay heed to resolve.

What is the Responsibility of a Consumer?

The consumer has a certain responsibility to perform as an aware consumer can bring changes in the society and would help other consumers to fight against the unfair practices or be aware of it. Following are the important responsibilities of a consumer which they should carry out.

• They should know their rights under the consumer protection act and should practice the same in case of need.

• They should have sufficient knowledge about the product they are buying. They should act as a cautious customer while purchasing any product.

• A consumer can file a complaint if a product is found to be false or not satisfactory.

• The consumer can demand a cash memo while making a purchase.

• The consumer should verify the standard mark that has been introduced for the reliability of the quality of the product like ISI or Hallmark, etc.

Consumer Awareness in India

Consumer awareness campaign- Jago Grahak Jago is the most important and successful campaign which has shielded consumers against marketing malpractices and has successfully redressed consumer complaints. The campaign Jago Grahak Jago was started in 2005 by the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer and Public Distributions by the Government of India.

The Slogan “ Jago Grahak Jago”  means wake up consumers has now become very popular in almost every household. The Government of India used several different channels to create awareness among consumers. Following is the list of the channels used by the Government to meet the objectives of the “Jago Grahak Jago” awareness program.

• Media Advertisements

• Video Campaign

• Posters

• Printing

• Audio Campaigns

Conclusion

At last, it is concluded that consumer awareness means being aware of having the knowledge about the several consumer production laws, rectified techniques, and consumer rights which include the right to protection of health and safety from goods and services that consumers purchase, right to be informed about the price, quality, quantity, potency, and standard of goods.