Speak up for consumer rights

A consumer being charged Rs. 4,565 for a glass of fresh orange juice to which a service charge of Rs. 456 and another tax of Rs. 1,055.80 was added, bringing the grand total to Rs. 6,075 at a five-star facility in Beruwela, made it to social media and has elicited many comments.

Some will argue that the consumer in question should have expected to pay five-star prices at a five-star hotel, but the counter argument is, “Shouldn’t consumers have the right to fair pricing at whatever hotel, restaurant or any other place they visit?”

The public commonly lay all blame for increase in prices of goods/services at the feet of the government in power and this is right in a majority of cases. Tax hikes have had a prohibitive impact on prices of essential goods but there is no doubt that many businesses have used tax hikes to cheat consumers and exploit them.

A consumer recently posted on social media that he had a meal at a restaurant in Colombo and was given a bill with a VAT added to it but there was no VAT registration number and had to argue to get the tax amount removed. In many cases consumers will pay the bill without checking if the business has a VAT registration number or not and there are many instances where they get cheated in this way.

There is a Sinhala saying which describes the plight of a person who faces double trouble as the “man who falls from the tree only to get gored by a bull.” This is the plight of Sri Lankan consumers of today. On one side there is the Government which continues to pile up taxes on them and on the other side are the exploitative businesses that squeeze as much out of the consumers as possible.

The recent hike in the price of carrots is an example where the middlemen made a ton of money while the farmer got little for his yield and the consumer ended up paying exorbitant prices. Be it eggs, chicken, rice, milk or many other goods, prices are increased without warning and the hapless consumer has little redress. The same goes for some services such as mobile phone operators who without any explanation add to the monthly bills.

How foreign tourists to Sri Lanka get overcharged and cheated is a whole different story and this trend continues without effective intervention from the relevant authorities.

The Consumer Affairs Authority Act, No. 9 of 2003 is the law that is in place to protect Sri Lankan consumers. Among its many objectives is to promote and protect the rights and interests of consumers, purchasers and other users of goods and services in respect of the price, availability and quality of such goods and services, keep consumers informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standards and price of goods and services made available for purchase, undertake studies, publish reports and provide information to the public relating to market conditions and consumer affairs, etc.

Now many will ask if the Consumer Affairs Authority does any of this. How often do we see information being shared that protects the rights of consumers? How often are consumers made aware of the methodology for seeking recourse if they are cheated?

The United Nations has guidelines on the promotion and protection of the economic interests of consumers. One of its objectives is to enable access by consumers to adequate information to enable them to make informed choices according to individual wishes and needs. This is what is lacking in Sri Lanka.

The CAA must do more to strive toward realising its objectives so that the consumers get the best deal for their hard-earned money.