The Director General, Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria (CPC), Mrs. Dupe Atoki, has accused manufacturers and retailers of short-changing consumers by their failure to honour guarantee/warranty terms and abuse of consumer rights with ouster clauses such as ‘no refund of money after payment’ and ‘goods received in good condition cannot be returned’ on their receipts, while the DG, Standard of Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Paul Angya, wondered if the statement was in anticipation of a product failure.
Both DGs made the allegations recently in Sheraton Lagos at the interactive forum of CPC with stakeholders on enforcement of warranty and guarantee on products and services.
The DG, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, while addressing key industry operators in automobile, electrical/electronics, heavy duty equipment, on-line markets and superstores subsectors of the nation’s economy, regretted that Nigeria was the only country where such clauses are printed on receipts.
“The situation in Nigeria is a sharp contrast as traders boldly print on purchase receipts terms like ‘no refund of money after payment’ and ‘goods received in good condition cannot be returned’. It is unacceptable that a producer, distributor or trader will attempt to completely vitiate the right of the consumer to redress by caveats of this nature.”
Describing the situation as intolerable, Mrs. Atoki said that manufacturers and retailers will be given a time frame to remove the statements from their receipts warning that at the expiration of the time frame, the agency will come hard on those who refuse to comply.
Expatiating, she said, “the statement should not be a blanket statement, it should be subjective. Take each situation and analyse it fundamentally,” adding that on the face value the product may look okay while it may have manufacturer’s defect which can only be detected when the buyer puts it to use.
The CPC boss stated that “worse still is the fact that even multinational corporations that adhere strictly to the tenets of implied or specified guarantee and warranty in other countries, come up with all sorts of devices in Nigeria to renege on same.”
While describing the situation as unacceptable, she advised businesses operating in the country to emulate their counterparts in other climes where “the concept of guarantee and warranty is taken for granted because manufacturers in those countries do not only strive to produce according to specifications, but also make after sales service an integral part of their marketing strategy.
“As a result, businesses in such climes have clearly articulated policies on return, repair, replacement or refund of money for products which do not meet the expectation of consumers,” she added.
The Director General observed that the almost non-existent after-sales service culture among businesses in Nigeria has denied Nigerian consumers of simple redress of their complaints without the intervention of the council.
According to her, “it is a common occurrence to see businesses invent reasons to justify why consumers should not derive the desired benefits from their purchases,” noting further that “it is disheartening, for instance, to see a consumer purchase a product, which should serve for a number of years, but malfunctions after a few weeks, without any indication of support from the supplier.
“In countries where consumer satisfaction is at the heart of business, such occurrences will trigger a spate of investigations to enable the producer unravel the real cause of the problem, with a view to forestalling same in future. But here in Nigeria, save for evidence of purchase receipts, some companies will go as far as disowning the product.”
Atoki insisted that for abuse of consumer rights to be drastically contained in Nigeria, “businesses must, as a basic minimum, adhere to the tenets of guarantee and warranty.”
She argued that “as government begins to push for diversification, which will lead to increased production, sustaining the interest of Nigerian consumers in made-in-Nigeria products will hinge on quality and entrenchment of guarantee and warranty in our business culture,” stating that “a poor quality product that fails to give value for money without consumer remedies will eventually lead to a closure of the business.
“For government to successfully diversify the nation’s economy, businesses in Nigeria must work hard to earn the confidence of consumers, both home and abroad. However, consumer confidence can only be earned when businesses produce quality products and services and adopt best practices in their relationship with consumers, particularly with respect to ensuring value for money,” Atoki noted.
The DG explained that the council’s meeting with the industry operators was “to deliberate on modalities for ensuring the sanctity of guarantee and warranty in the country,” advising the operators not to see the drive to entrench guarantee and warranty in the nation’s business culture as only a means at protecting consumer rights, but as “a push for the survival of businesses, as it will help to make Nigerian products and services competitive in the global marketplace.”
Lending credence to what the CPC boss said, Dr. Paul Angya of SON lamented that retailers print ‘goods sold in good condition cannot be returned’ on receipts while wondering if “this is in anticipation of a product failure or a guarantee on the quality of a product.”
Decrying the anomaly, the SON DG noted that the standards of product liability NIS 506, 2006 stipulates that suppliers of goods and services have the responsibility and obligation to ensure that defective products and services are not sold to consumers.
Barrister Ken Ukaoha, President, National Association of Nigerian Traders[NANTs], in his address, regretted that traders are usually blamed when the terms of guarantee and warranty are not implemented.
Noting that the traders are not necessarily the manufacturers, he emphasised that it is the manufacturers who can implement the warranty and not the traders.
“Traders are just the intermediary and their roles should be clearly specified,” he said.
However, he advised aggrieved consumers to always contact the market task force when they have any issue with a retailer. “If you have any problem, ask for the chairman of the market taskforce and if the problem is not resolved at this stage, contact the market chairman and if the case still persists, contact the NANTs headquarters or CPC.”
Commending the CPC for organising such an interactive event, he said there was need for more of such programmes to encourage interactions between sellers and buyers.
