Understanding Consumer Rights

Becoming an educated and satisfied consumer can make your life considerably easier. By building a solid foundation of knowledge, you put yourself in position to know when and how to defend your consumer rights. In Understanding Consumer Rights you will find vital information to help you make sense of your rights. This book gives you a first step toward many important concepts, breaks them down into manageable parts, and provides some simple tools you need to help you try to get a fair deal. smart tips help you recognize pitfalls and take advantage of opportunities-whether through the Internet or at your corner store. Increased interest in do-it-yourself money management is a defining trend of our modern world, and the DK Essential Finance series provides the perfect personal finance library to help take advantage of this phenomenon. These outstanding guides provide a practical and impartial resource to guide you through important financial decisions. Useful questionnaires pinpoint one's financial status while easy-to-use charts and graphs help track cash flow, cut through the complexities of financial lingo, and gain the confidence needed to build real financial security. Readers can learn to invest online, live debt free, plan for retirement, or pay for a child's education.

"Consumer law now constitutes a separate subject matter which the authors Hans-W. Micklitz and Norbert Reich tried to analyse in ... the fourth German edition of 'Europäisches Verbraucherrecht' of 2003... For the English edition, the authors, in cooperation with the publisher, decided to prepare a comprehensive version which we call 'Understanding European Consumer Law'..."--P. v.

The perfect guide for harried consumers Consumer Rights for Everyone is in essence what it promises to be: Everymanýs guide to consumer awareness. It addresses certain basic questions which all of us have asked ourselves at one time or the other: what does a telephone subscriber do when he gets inflated bills for a period when his phone was not even in working order? What do harassed parents do when their child becomes the victim of a doctorýs apathy? Can a consumer sue a housing society which has fobbed him off with a substandard house? To millions of middle-class Indian consumer courts promise speedy and inexpensive redressal of grievances about deficient services, unfair trade practices and defective goods. In this, the first book of its kind, newspaper columnist and consumer rights activist Pushpa Girimaji provides an exclusive insight into the functioning of the consumer courts and the invaluable service they render, offering advice on the pitfalls to be avoided. Starting with the basics, she gives an explanation of the Consumer Protection Act and details how a consumer can fight his/her own case with or without a lawyer. Case studies and brief summations of court verdicts form the core of the book and touch fields as diverse as housing, health, telecommunications, railways, power supply and insurance. Written in a crisp, accessible style that consciously steers clear of jargon-ridden legalese, Consumer Rights for Everyone should become a valuable handbook for the conscious consumer.

This book charts the difficulties encountered by vulnerable consumers in their access to justice, through the contributions of prominent authors (academic, practitioners and consultants) in the field of consumer law and access to justice. It demonstrates that despite the development of ADR, access to justice is still severely lacking for the vulnerable consumer. The book highlights that a broad understanding of access to justice, which encompasses good regulation and its public enforcement, is an essential ingredient alongside access to the mechanisms of traditional private justice (courts and ADR) to protect the vulnerable consumer. Indeed, many of the difficulties are linked to normative obstacles and lack of access to justice is primarily a vulnerability in itself that can exacerbate existing ones. In addition, because it may contribute to ‘pushing’ already vulnerable consumers into social exclusion it is not simply about economic justice but also about social justice. The book shows that lack of access to justice is not irreversible nor is it necessarily linked to consumer apathy. New technologies could provide solutions. The book concludes with a plea for developing ‘inclusive’ justice systems with more emphasis on public enforcement alongside effective courts systems to offer the vulnerable with adequate means to defend themselves. This book will be suitable for both students and practitioners, and all those with an interest in the justice system.

Government policies, marketing campaigns of banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, and consumers' protective actions all depend on assumptions about consumer financial behavior. Unfortunately, many consumers have no or little knowledge of budgeting, financial products, and financial planning. It is therefore important that organizations and market authorities know why consumers spend, borrow, insure, invest, and save for their retirement - or why they do not. Understanding Consumer Financial Behavior provides a systemic economic and behavioral approach to the way people handle their finances. It discusses the different types of financial behaviors consumers may engage in and explores the psychological explanations for their behavior and choices. This exciting new book is essential reading for scholars of marketing, finance, and management; financial professionals; and consumer policy makers.

Enables the layperson, or professional, to understand more about this complex area and to know more about the rights and obligations of the individual. It is clear and concise and is ideal for anyone who wishes to understand more about the area of consumer law.

Understanding the Consumer brings together marketing theory and practice in a truly consumer-centric approach. It challenges the lip service usually paid to this concept and demonstrates that a fundamental understanding of the consumer is critical to the future of effective marketing. Drawing on cutting-edge developments in the literature it reconceptualizes how consumers respond and act in the marketplace with particular attention to: - relationships with suppliers, products and brands - their innovative, creative and resistant behaviour - the complexity and unpredictability of their consumption behaviour - their increasing need to get closer to production. The book challenges existing functionally driven marketing thinking and shows how a more holistic approach to the marketplace will drive better theory and practice. It combines a jargon-free approach to the subject with an illustration of the relevant theory using practical, topical examples from the marketplace as well as drawing on other business related disciplines including sociology and economics to support its arguments.