Complicated task of buyer beware.

• Author: Peter Bowal

The Range of Consumer Interests

Being an educated and prudent consumer today is a full time job. It used to be salesmen selling snake oil or used cars that we were advised to be on our guard for. Now the proliferation of consumer goods and services and the range of techniques for marketing them is so vast and confusing that even the most meticulous consumer is daunted.

In the beginning, there was the general store, catalogue shopping, word of mouth, and print advertising. This was joined by electronic advertising on radio and television. Now there are mail order, bar codes and scanning, the fax machine, automatic periodic debits and direct debits, shopping-at-home channels, the Internet and credit cards.

There are the trial promotions, door crashers, and time-limited warranties. Even no obligation representations often carry an obligation of some kind, including saying "no" to follow-up contacts.

There is Total Quality Management, Strategic Planning, and time management. There are standard forms and fine legalese print that is "not meant to be read, still less to be understood" (McCutcheon v. David MacBrayne Ltd. 1964; Tilden Rent-a-Car Co. v. Clendenning 1978).

Competition for the consumer dollar has intensified. Marketing and salesmanship are now economic assets in high demand. New marketing strategies and techniques are as common as new products.

Over the din of cash registers and all those our customers come first slogans, how does one really know to whom and in what manner to complain about a transaction? Consumer protection legislation and the common law are intended to balance the scales of bargaining and economic power in the marketplace, between businesses and consumers. But when one's car is on the hoist and the price of that muffler has also been hoisted, suddenly the business is in a stronger position than the consumer.

The matrix of federal and provincial regulations that may apply to protect the consumer, however, is a veritable maze of overlapping, and sometimes contradictory, standards. Moreover, lawsuits or prosecutions are extremely inefficient devices to address consumer grievances. Individual consumer discretion and careful vigilance is still the best prescription.

A Positive Examination of Negative Option Marketing

A look at some instances of negative option marketing provides good examples of a merchandising approach of which consumers should beware. A promotion widely making the rounds today is the CD Club, those pervasive centre pages and inserts which fall out of magaziness. One pays for one and gets ten. Membership is, of course, free as long as one pays for a single CD. One is told to "send no money nowjust mail coupon". In fact, one chooses seven free CDs now, buys one within the year, and gets two more free, "with no commitment to buy more". The word "free" is scattered all over the advertisement. How can one refuse?

The problem lies in the details. And there are details. Provincial sales tax and GST are payable, of course, on the regular price of the CDs. The regular price is, in my view, also slightly higher than one can often find at any retail outlet. Regular shipping and handling charges for each disk are also charged, and the "current charges" will have one regretting not having gone to the local electronics superstore.

Although the coupon boldly asserts that one need "send no money now", the company insists on receiving your credit card number to process the order. This is presumably for the shipping and handling charges, but who knows what they will do with it? One is asked about musical tastes and other buying habits so that one can be tormented for years with more related offers. Another company, using the same marketing tactic, sweetens the deal by throwing in another CD, "11 CDs for the price of 1." The ad promises "no tricks and no traps" but what is this paragraph tucked away in the corner?

Is the consumer really getting all these disks for the price of one? Is there really no obligation? A closer examination of this popular mail...