Experts ask consumers to channel complaints via calls, email, legal action
By Abimbola Mohammed
In celebration of World Consumers’ Right Day, professionals in various segments of industry have urged consumers to always address any product or service-related concerns through the designated channels offered by companies. These channels include email, phone calls to the help desk, online chat, or in-person visits to a physical office for lodging complaints. They were also advised to take legal action as another viable option.
They emphasized that though social media has consistently demonstrated its speed and effectiveness in connecting with brand owners/manufacturers for feedback, it should not be the sole or recommended avenue for resolving complaints. This is due to the inherent risk involved, as customers often become emotionally charged and may resort to using defamatory language, which can potentially result in legal consequences.
The experts noted that seeking assistance from legal professionals, filing complaints with regulatory agencies, or resorting to legal action when faced with challenges from the brand is the most efficient way to address product and service-related issues.
For Lanre Alabi, Media Director, Brand-i, who spoke on the right of consumer and the appropriate ways to reach a company when there are complaints, seeking refunds, observations or dissatisfaction about a product or service, the best approach is to either use chat box, email, or walk in if there is a physical store.
“Consumers have an elementary right to drop a review or complaint about a product/ service. Also, a consumer has a right to initiate a refund for a product/ service if it didn’t meet expectations or the particular purpose it was purchased. For an e-commerce store, the appropriate channel is to go through the help desk on the website or direct phone call to the customer care line. If any product was gotten from a physical store, such persons can walk into the store and make a case,” he said.
The consumer advocate noted that, even though brand owners too often want to protect their brands and also keep them, they can still sue when reviews are malicious and tend to defame the brand.
“Manufacturers and brand owners often want to keep the customer and the image of the brand. In cases where the reviews are malicious and were intended to defame the name of the brand, they have legal rights to sue such individual or organization. If the intended statement was a libel or slander, the law permits such business owner to take legal action,” he explained.
However, in an interview with MARKETING EDGE on the issue, Barr. Muhammed Adam, Principal Partner, Muhammed Adam & Associates, said hiring a lawyer to lodge complaints to reach out to the brand that a consumer has issues with is the most civil thing to do.
His added, “If/ when you discover something is wrong or off with a particular product or services provided by a company, the most civil thing to do is to either reach out to the company, preferably through a lawyer, to lodge a complaint. If possible, do it in writing. It puts forward the sincerity of your purpose and makes your case very clear to be addressed. Where your complaint is not properly attended to, you should consider the next step to ventilate your complaint.”
He pointed out that through the guide of a lawyer, a consumer can present a petition to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and/ or other regulatory agencies that may have oversight powers over such companies. “If the above doesn’t work, then approaching a court of law or any relevant tribunal should be your next line of action. Without a doubt this appears to be the most effective approach to deal with an issue that relates to products and services,” he noted.
Adam noted that resorting to legal means will limit risk of facing legal battles over commercial disparagement. He added that some consumers get emotionally carried while giving review about a product they are not satisfied with and forget that even though they say customers are always right ,there are limits in exercising those rights, especially when the review is aimed at injuring or harming a business reputation maliciously, then it’s not a review.
Speaking on product reviews, he said there is a thin line between sharing a product review, positive or negative review and product disparagement as consumers often mix the context of reviews and complaints up.
His words, “A review is a feedback about the use of a product or service, which could be pleasant or unpleasant. On the other hand, product disparagement includes negative statements about a product or service, false comparisons of competing consumer products or services and statements harming the reputation of a company which is completely wrong both in facts and law. Malicious falsity begets both civil and criminal liabilities.”
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