Message from Benny Borg Bonello, Consumers' Association President
First of all, I wish success to this website. I congratulate Adrian and Matthew for their efforts to set up this website. I am sure that their efforts will be beneficial to the local consumers.
A new beginning always brings about new hopes. My hope is that this website will provide consumers, especially young ones, with a new medium to air their views. If only Adrian’s and Matthew’s efforts would stimulate new activists in such a vast area as Consumer Affairs and thwart the apathy that exists among the consumers in general!
During the past few years, there has been new legislation which promotes consumer protection. The extent and the depth of such legislation provide a relative easy task for consumers to ensure that their rights are protected. On the other hand, the relative short time in which such legislation has been introduced brought about several problems.
One problem is to keep oneself acquainted and informed of the new rights which have been granted. So much so, it is not the first time that even lawyers are not aware of the changes brought about by the new legislation. One can easily imagine how most consumers are not aware of their rights.
A second problem is that an impression is being given that, once the legislative framework has been taken care of, all problems are resolved. This is far from the truth for several reasons.
Consumer protection legislation assumes that a market operates. The saying goes that in a market, the consumer is king. Thus it is assumed that consumers do get a fair deal most of the time. But in order to get a fair deal, there are several conditions. One condition is that consumers bargain before they arrive at the final outcome of the transaction.
Unfortunately,
this is not usually the case. Consumers must bargain as otherwise,
they are prone to face problems. Bargaining implies that both
parties are equal. In the marketplace, the consumer and the
seller should have the same powers. Many a time, such a situation
does not arise not because of market conditions but because
consumers assume that the only decision, which they can and
must make, is to accept the conditions imposed
by the seller or else decline the offer. It
should be known that markets do not impose such a condition.
It is we as consumers who do assume it and accept it.
I leave you with a question. Do you think that a businessperson worth his/her salt would accept such a situation? Do you sincerely think that businesspersons do not haggle to attain the best deal? If such a situation is acceptable between businesspersons, why do we assume that it is not acceptable to us when we go and buy a product or a service?
I sincerely hope to get some answers in the coming days. It is only then that Adrian’s and Matthew’s efforts are rewarded. Remember this is your website. Success depends on you!
Benny Borg Bonello,
President, Consumers’ Association