Consumer rights and interests refer to the rights and interests protected by the law when consumers purchase goods or receive services and for some time thereafter. Consumer rights and interests are borne mainly by enterprises and society and are supervised by media and consumer organizations or individuals.
According to the Consumer Council, global consumers shall be entitled to eight consumer rights.
Consumers should be guaranteed the needs for survival, adequate clothing, food, shelter, transportation, health care, education, and public services.
Consumers should be protected against the marketing of goods or the provision of services that are hazardous to health, life, and privacy.
Consumers should be protected against dishonest or misleading and has the right to be given the facts and information such as specifications, origin, raw materials or ingredients, shelf life, after-sales service arrangements, etc for a smart choice.
Consumers have the right to choose from among various products and services at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality.
Consumers have the right to express views or consumer interests in the making and execution of government, enterprises, or professional bodies' policies.
Consumers have the right to be compensated for misrepresentation, shoddy goods, or unsatisfactory services.
Consumers have the right to acquire consumer information, right, and responsibilities for making consumption decisions with bargaining power.
Consumers have the right to live in a relatively safe and sustainable environment.
With rights, there are also responsibilities. Students should exercise their responsibilities when making purchases, and be aware of the product information and terms of services before purchasing. They should exercise due care when making decisions in the marketplace; consider the consequences that may arise from any consumption decisions.
The Chinese New Year is approaching, Little Thrifty’s mom is doing a spring cleaning and there is a stack of "scrap paper" in Little Thrifty’s room. Little Thrifty stops his mom right away by telling her that they are shopping receipts when she tries to clean them up.
Why are they worth keeping?
They are the receipts of Little Thrifty’s recent purchases, likewise, there are also online shopping receipts saved on Little Thrifty’s computer. Keeping shopping receipts or records of shopping procedures (such as saving screenshots, keeping emails or short message exchanges with merchants, etc.) for a period of time after consumption is an important measure for consumers to protect their consumer rights.
In case disputes arise after purchasing products or services, all kinds of document or message exchanges could be used as proof for lodging a complaint with the Consumer Council or recovering compensation.
Little Thrifty’s mom appreciates his awareness of consumer rights, but she begins to interrogate Little Thrifty about his spending over the past few months…..
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