CAC RESOLVES 80 PERCENT OF COMPLAINTS

Approximately 80 percent of the 3,000 complaints made annually by consumers to the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) are successfully resolved, according to Esworth McLaughlin, Director of Field Operations at the Commission.

In a recent interview with JIS News, McLaughlin said that given the success of the CAC in achieving results, consumers should not hesitate in taking steps to secure their Rights, particularly as the service offered by the CAC was free.

He observed that oftentimes consumers whose rights have been violated would not seek redress as they felt that their efforts would be in vain. However, he said the Commission has been able to secure redress “within a reasonable period of time”.

The director said that members of the public should become more assertive, as they would receive help, and their complaints would assist the CAC to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

Complaints to the CAC include inordinate delays in the delivery of goods that have been purchased; the sale of defective goods; poor repair service for equipment and machinery; faulty equipment, for example computer hardware with no parts available locally; billing concerns in relation to utility companies, and unfair contracts.

McLaughlin noted that the process of redress included the gathering of evidence from all those involved in the dispute, such as vendor purchaser of the product or service. He added that, if necessary, the expertise of technocrats from agencies such as the Bureau of Standards would be utilized in helping to arrive at a fair and reasonable decision.

“If we can reasonably establish that negligence lies on the part of the vendor then we seek redress under the Trade of Goods Act” the CAC director explained. He added that redress might take different forms, including “an undertaking by the vendor to repair the item in a reasonable period of time, an exchange of the item or to give a refund on the item.

He pointed out that although the mode of redress was typically determined by the vendor, “there is legislation afoot to change that and to give consumers some say in what form of redress they should get”.

McLaughlin said that CAC was aiming to step up its public education programme during the next financial year to ensure that it fulfilled its goal of creating a Knowledgeable, Assertive, Vigilant and Discriminating population.

The CAC recognizes eight basic rights of the consumer. These include the right to satisfaction of basic needs; the right to be protected against hazardous products and processes; the right to have facts and to make informed choices; the right to chose between a variety of goods and services; the right to redress; the right to live in a healthy and sustainable environment; the right to consumer education and the right to be heard.

McLaughlin said the Commission aimed to include its research into the matter of unfair contracts in various areas of business activity. “there are contracts out there which consumers are engaging in and are signing without really studying them carefully, and on the surface, some of these contracts appear to be unfair,” he said.

The CAC evolved from the Prices Commission in 1992, which existed during the period of price and exchange control. With the development of the Jamaican society into a free market economy, the Consumer Affairs Commission emerged to help in creating harmony within the market place. The agency operates under the Trade Law of 1955, which was amended by the Trade Amendment Act of 1970.