Online shoppings: preserve all received documents in the event of dispute

Don’t be scared off: it’s within every consumer’s rights to challenge the businesses that create a non-compliant product. If the defect is severe enough, this complaint could actually end up saving the lives of many others. It’s about more than asserting one’s rights; it’s about holding manufacturers and re-sellers accountable to the regulations of the society they’re operating in.

Product Compliance for Dummies

Product compliance is an important part of the process of creating and selling a product to consumers. The very act of placing a product for sale on a store shelf is the equivalent of declaring that it has passed the laws and regulations in place for that industry or manufacturing of that product. The recent increase in compliance-related penalties, fines and recalls means that consumer rights are alive and well. It’s up to the business or company creating the product to ensure that they innovate rapidly to comply.

On part of the consumer, a simple action like filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or another regulatory body goes above and beyond simple customer satisfaction or churn prevention. If the issue or defect is large enough, this one complaint letter could snowball into, in some cases, saving the lives of many others or ensuring fair compensation for damages they may have incurred.

How to Challenge a Non-Compliant Product

When filing a consumer complaint, it is important to initiate a paper trail, just in case the issue of a non-compliant product escalates. It’s not only about challenging the retail business immediately, without delay; it’s also about having that early documentation for use down the road.
And this is not only restricted to a non-compliant product — it could be that the consumer is writing to speak about a bad experience or a negligent employee who was non-compliant with a socially acceptable code of conduct.
Certainly, consumers can and should expect businesses to follow up with them regarding their complaint, which is why it’s best to put up as much information and detail as possible about the experience.

Consumers can contact the sellers/retailers, manufacturers or a third party like Better Business Bureau. This body handles the process for receiving complaints, sending them to and contacting businesses. Keep in mind that these are usually only dealing with marketplace-specific issues, and may not address issues of discrimination. They may also not end up following up, necessarily, with the business for a response, if no response is received.

At the end of the day, it may be up to the consumer to take further action themselves, which is why it’s so important to have sufficient supporting documentation.