May 2006
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How to right retailing wrongs
Shopping for one of the lawn mowers in our May 2006 report isn’t quite as easy. Granted, consumers now have the benefit of the Internet for price comparisons, and we’re spoiled for choice with the number of retailers just down the cyberroad. But such convenience isn’t always so, well ... convenient. I won’t wax nostalgic about the good old days when shopkeepers treated customers better, but we consumers need to be on high alert about the pitfalls in today’s frenzied marketplace. Brick-and-mortar retailers used to be the reliable contact point between customer and manufacturer. They took your money, and if problems arose with the products they sold, they took care of them. Now, while retailers still eagerly take your money, many are less willing to take responsibility if a product goes kaput. They tell you to go to the manufacturer. That’s unfair, and in some cases, it’s illegal. In fact, in most cases, you shouldn’t have to navigate your way back to the manufacturer. By selling you an item, a store gives an unwritten assurance known as an implied warranty of merchantability. That means if the product you bought doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, or if it malfunctions or fails within an unreasonably short time for that type of product and the price, the retailer is obligated to correct the problem, no matter what its return policy says. That doesn’t mean a product should last forever; most states give a consumer up to four years to discover a problem present in an item at the time it was sold. Retailers can dodge the obligations of an implied warranty only if they conspicuously inform customers, generally in writing, that they disclaim the implied warranty or mark a product “as is” or “with all faults.” In some states, such disclaimers are unenforceable. Online retailers, however, seem to be big believers in disclaimers. Nearly every “agreement” we looked at for our May 2006 report, Web shopping: 4 ways to protect yourself, included wording that effectively allowed the merchant to slither out of the common consumer protections by disclaiming implied warranties and, in some cases, by declaring all items are sold “as is.” So while you might find a low price on the Web, you often give up some legal protections. Our advice: If you’re told in a store that you’ll have to take your complaint to the manufacturer, stand firm, and know and assert your rights. Go straight to the store manager and say you’re prepared to keep going--to the company’s head office, the local Better Business Bureau (find it online at www.bbb.org ) and, if necessary, your state’s attorney general (see listing at www.naag.org ). Keep records of all conversations and the original paperwork; make copies if you need to send them anywhere. On second thought, maybe I will wax nostalgic about the good old days when shopkeepers treated customers more fairly. Better yet, maybe we should all choose to buy from merchants who still do.
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