Consumers' Section/forum

Dub13

I think this would be a good idea,people need to know their rights and How to complain etc etc.I am a member of the Consumers' Association of Ireland so I would help out.

I would not see a forum like this as all negative stuff,as plenty of shops/business out there have very good Customer service.

Let me know what you think.


Paul

Dub13

A bit of the advice I would like to see given out on any new forum.

Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980, anything you buy from a retailer must be:

of merchantable quality
fit for its normal purpose, and reasonably durable
as described, whether the description is part of the advertising or wrapping, on a label, or something said by the salesperson.
When you buy goods from a retailer, you make a contract with him. He agrees to provide certain goods to you for a certain price. If your purchase turns out to be faulty, the retailer, not the manufacturer, is responsible to you and must sort out your complaint. You are entitled to a refund, a replacement or a repair.

You do not have to take a credit note if your complaint is covered by the Sale of Goods Act. You can insist on a refund, a replacement or a repair.

Dub13

Anybody else think this is a good idea...?

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

A Dub in Glasgo

I think it is a very good idea which can be extended to peoples use of online auctions, for example.

Dub13

A Dub in Glasgo,
Thanks I think its a good idea aswell.

smiaras wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Rip off Ireland is a forum were people complain about the high prices in Ireland.A new Consumers Forum would have a much wider remit than that such as...

1)Faulty Goods

2)Warranty Issues

3)Know your Rights

4)How to complain

5)Info on the small claims court.

6)I would like to encourage people to post about any good experances they had with Consumers Issues

Gilgamesh

personally, I like the Idea aswell,
I am starting a business at the moment and allways enjoy listening to the chat they have on 98fm I think on wednesdays.
IS a great Idea.
Personally I don't think this shoul dgo under Ripoff Ireland, as I think people should be able to give off good experiences and I just don't think that should go under the word 'Ripoff'


thumbs up for this from me

seamus

Business/Economy/Finance tends to deal with these sorts of issues. Maybe it could do with being renamed.

joolsveer

I think it is a good idea too. I am also a member of the CAI and have been interested in the topic of consumer rights since before the 1980 act.

Dub13

Thanks,It looks like we are getting abit of support for this.


As I have said above one of the inportant things about any future Consumer Forum on boards is I would like people to post any GOOD experiences...in this country you never here good reports about Consumer Issues

uberwolf

seems good, would/could tie in with the reliability forum I've desperately trying to pimp!! see down this forum, are they mergable?

Dub13

Also with the increase in people buying online it could/would be a good place to share info such as how long delivery takes.

So Admins what do you think.

spongebob

seamus wrote:

Business/Economy/Finance tends to deal with these sorts of issues. Maybe it could do with being renamed.

I would favour this approach...and a sticky or two of the FAQ sort.

Askabout Money went sub only last time I looked so it is no longer as convenient for the quick question every now n then .

M

vinnyfitz

I'd support something along these lines as well.

One might expect the consumer protection authorities (ODCA, IFSRA etc) to host such forums but they won't and the CAI itself seems to have no IT capacity.

Maybe the Bus/Econ/Fin forum should be restructured but it's useful role in helping people setting up in business might be lost if it was sunk into a consumer rights forum..

Also, Mods in forums like IOFFL, FS, motors etc might have a view on this idea given the consumer advice issues that come up there. Would they find it useful to move consumer agonies to a dedicated forum?

LFCFan what do you think about linking this to the RipOffIreland board to facilitate this sort of exchange as well as spotting rip off injustices?

Dub13

Business/Economy/Finance Does alot of Consumers stuff now but I think its time for a Consumers stand alone forum.Some not so Business/Economy minded people are not intrested in things in that forum now such as Tax Refund,London Shchool of Investment,Irish Permanent shares,Is the Euro Over valued or the Sterling undervalued?.

Most people have little interest in the the Business/Economy part of that forum,but they have a huge intrest in everyday Consumer issues.

Well thats what I think anyway.

Dub13

vinnyfitz wrote:

Also, Mods in forums like IOFFL, FS, motors etc might have a view on this idea given the consumer advice issues that come up there. Would they find it useful to move consumer agonies to a dedicated forum?

LFCFan what do you think about linking this to the RipOffIreland board to facilitate this sort of exchange as well as spotting rip off injustices?

Good point about the other Mods being able to move any consumer agonies to a dedicated forum,I am sure they would welcome it.

As for linking this to the RipOffIreland this is also a good idea but lets not run before we can walk,we still have work to do in order to get a consumer forum.But two good ideas,lets hope this comes off.

Dub13

Anybody know if I have to contact the Admins about this or will they read it here and let me know...?

BuffyBot

They'll see it here

Dub13

Any chance one of the administrators could let us know what they think of this idea...?

pickarooney

Sounds good, but I don't know if it really needs a new forum. Perhaps just add a question mark to the Rip-Off Ireland(?) sub-forum, or incorporate it with Bargains.

vinnyfitz

I suspect, if it got going, this could be one of the busiest forums on Boards.ie.

Look at it this way: A huge amount of on-line activity these days is related to "consuming" - researching options, ordering goods, booking services, downloading content, etc.

Yet, there is almost nowhere for Irish consumers to pool information about "consuming" - value for money, rip offs, advice, rights and redress.

The popularity of many of the forums here is in part related to their value in providing consumer advice in their own specialist areas. Just scroll along the forum headings to see examples of what I mean.

The more I think about this the more useful I think it could be.

If it gathered momentum it might attract lots of additional visitors too. :eek:

dahamsta

I support this product and/or service.

Moderation would need to be excellent though, for example you'd need someone who could decide quickly and efficiently if comms issues would be better off there or in the IO forum (or Nets/Comms, or BB, etc). You'd also need someone with enough clue to discern between general bitching and bitching that'll result in legal threats. This was a major concern of mine when I was discussing setting up a consumer forum for comms issues with a certain IOFFL character. The telcowatch domain name is still resting on it's laurels somewhere.

adam

Mr E

I think its a great idea too. It would syphon alot of consumer-related threads from business/economy, rip-off Ireland, IOFFL, broadband etc.

Dub13

Looks like we are getting a fair bit of support for this.

spongebob

I Punted a variant of this idea in the spring , it would have allowed anonymous posting (maybe) . It got nixed at the time but may be worth vague consideration in the mix if a Consumer forum were on the radar.

This is the suggestion for the Personal Finance
forum

M

EKRIUQ

As were coming up to the festive Season a consumer forum as a sub forum to Business and Finance which deals with, complaints, buying during the sales, returning goods would be a good idea to help people when their going into shops to know their rights plus the whole area of buying online could be clarfied to people.

The moderator of the forum would have to be knowledgeable about legal matters, because the giving and moderation of advice would be very important to the poster and could have consequenses.

Dub13

TIPPTOP wrote:

The moderator of the forum would have to be knowledgeable about legal matters, because the giving and moderation of advice would be very important to the poster and could have consequenses.

Very true,I think it would be best to have 2/3 Mods of any new forum as I would think it would be very busy.

Dub13

Any more support for this...?

vinnyfitz

Maybe you should post links to this thread in Bus Fin Econ, in Ripoffireland and in "forums" (where maybe it should have been started anyway?).

Not everyone reads "feedback"

Trojan

Sounds like a good idea.

I'd be interested in meta discussion, like e.g. what attempts at product and company boycotts have actually achieved - were the Coca Cola/Nike/Amazon consumer boycotts ever considered successful, things like that.

Dub13

I will give that a try Vinny thanks.I have got a few PM and emails from people who read this and have consumer problems,so I think people will be intrseted in this.

Dub13

Can I take the Admins not replying to mean this is not a runner...?

RainyDay

Muck wrote:

I would favour this approach...and a sticky or two of the FAQ sort.

Askabout Money went sub only last time I looked so it is no longer as convenient for the quick question every now n then .

M

Small clarification - Askaboutmoney.com is not a subscription site. It was & continues to be completely free. We recently had to restrict posting to registered users (like most boards.ie forums) to prevent some spamming problems.

BuffyBot

Can I take the Admins not replying to mean this is not a runner...?

I'd imagine you can take it to mean they just haven't got round to it.

CuLT

There is a Forum Suggestions forum...

Dub13

CuLT wrote:

There is a Forum Suggestions forum...

I know...its in there aswell,but it was suggested to me to post it in here as more people read this forum.

spongebob

RainyDay wrote:

Small clarification - Askaboutmoney.com is not a subscription site. It was & continues to be completely free. We recently had to restrict posting to registered users

Yes .

Non of the fora now allow unregistered users to post while most of the fora on Boards are the same.

My original suggestion was for a forum that was a tad like the way askaboutmoney was and not the was it has recently become. The PI Board is like that .

M

RainyDay

Muck wrote:

My original suggestion was for a forum that was a tad like the way askaboutmoney was and not the was it has recently become.

We (the mods over at askaboutmoney.com) would be interested in any feedback you have on the recent change. Feel free to post your feedback here, or over there or PM me.

Dub13

We should not have to go to askaboutmoney or anywere else,I think we need a Consumers forum here.

Dub13

^bump^

DeVore

If the Comsumers Association Of Ireland wanted a hosted forum and were willing to interact with the users here, I'd be all on for that. I'm a little bit wary of just setting up such a forum and allowing the armchair experts to tell everyone what they THINK their rights are...

What you think Dub13?

DeV.

spongebob

DeVore wrote:

If the Comsumers Association Of Ireland wanted a hosted forum and were willing to interact with the users here, I'd be all on for that. I'm a little bit wary of just setting up such a forum and allowing the armchair experts to tell everyone what they THINK their rights are...

The CAI should have done this years ago Dev, and had they done so then the AAM crowd would never have felt the need to start their own Board to do what the CAI _should_ be doing .

I have a feeling the CAI want people to buy their publications but thats it.

M

Dub13

I am not sure if they would go for it DeV as they allready man phonelines and I could see a new forum being very busy.But I could not be sure as I am just a member I have nothing to do with the running of the CAI.

As for the the armchair experts telling people there rights....I would see it more as people sharing there experiences both good and bad.It would have to be very well moderated but I think it could work.But at the end of the day you are the Boss man...LOL

damien

dahamsta wrote:

This was a major concern of mine when I was discussing setting up a consumer forum for comms issues with a certain IOFFL character.

Who would that be now ?

The telcowatch domain name is still resting on it's laurels somewhere.

I still believe TelcoWatch is a good idea and I wish I had the time to go with it. Just not enough hours in the day these days.

damien

DeVore wrote:

If the Comsumers Association Of Ireland wanted a hosted forum and were willing to interact with the users here, I'd be all on for that. I'm a little bit wary of just setting up such a forum and allowing the armchair experts to tell everyone what they THINK their rights are...

Years after the IrelandOffline forum was set up ComReg created their consumer interaction website - AskComReg.ie. If we had waited for ComReg to answer the need of the consumer I think we'd still be waiting.

There is a clear need for a forum like this and since there doesn't seem to be any other place about in the online space for this, why not have boards host it ? It will be another way to add to the quality of this website and should bring in even more members.

I can understand the worry about the armchair pundits, but the IrelandOffline forum got those too and after a while the regulars educated themselves to the real facts and the bull wasn't tolerated. Nowadays the IrelandOffline forum has an impressive array of quality posters who know everything about anything in the telco arena. This happened as a result of the posters educating themselves and each other as the forum matured, granted there were some that were experts before they happened upon the forum but I think there are a lot more who have become experts as a direct result of the forum.

I think there may be some people posting bull to start with but I think the community here will make sure that the advice is correct and soon enough you'll see the consumer affairs novices grow into experts and make a valuable contribution to this community.

RainyDay

damien.m wrote:

I can understand the worry about the armchair pundits, but the IrelandOffline forum got those too and after a while the regulars educated themselves to the real facts and the bull wasn't tolerated. Nowadays the IrelandOffline forum has an impressive array of quality posters who know everything about anything in the telco arena. This happened as a result of the posters educating themselves and each other as the forum matured, granted there were some that were experts before they happened upon the forum but I think there are a lot more who have become experts as a direct result of the forum.

That description applies almost exactly to how things developed over at askaboutmoney.com too, which now has an impressive array of quality posters (both finance professionals and enthusiastic amatuers like me) who know everything about anything in the personal finance arena. I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't apply to the consumer protection arena also.

Gilgamesh

I also believe with a bit of work, this could go down extremely well.
does anybody know how to contact someone in the CAI.
I love listening to the guy who appears on 98fm on wednesday evenings.
Was kinda thinking not to ask them to mod on a daily basis, but even if they could put someone there for a type of Q&A once or twice a week, would be great.
I understand that they don't have the finances to get this going themselves, but this could be a way for them to go.
as for the knowledge.
I have seen people in boards, talking about chemical reactions and whatnot, there must be registered users here who have the knowledge required for this forum aswell.
I know a fair bit about Consumer Law, but I would not feel myself confident enough to Mod this.
but if you should be short of people, I think I would volunteer, I at least know where to get the info if I don't know the answer

dahamsta

For the record, I'd be happy to set up and host a forum like this free of charge, and (co)moderate a comms section*. However, speaking from experience, there are two (particular) issues with this that should be noted:

a) It's quite possible that the lack of an existing community may hobble the site from the start. This is hard to call tbh, it could go both ways.

b) Moderation would have to be strict as hell to avoid legal threats.

(Technically, I'd simply set up a phpBB installation. If it was successful, I'd convert it to vBulletin and ask for donations for the licence. If they didn't come, I'd cover it myself, perhaps with a little bit of a whine. )

adam

*The telcowatch domain(s?) could point there.

Dub13

DeVore wrote:

If the Comsumers Association Of Ireland wanted a hosted forum and were willing to interact with the users here, I'd be all on for that. I'm a little bit wary of just setting up such a forum and allowing the armchair experts to tell everyone what they THINK their rights are...

What you think Dub13?

DeV.

DeV If you have no objections I can go to the CAI on behalf of Boards and see what they think of this idea...?I just want to clear it with you first as I don't want to act out of turn ( the poker player in me talking again).So what do you think...?

Dub13

After 3 emails and no reply from the Comsumers Association Of Ireland I think we can take it that they are not keen on this idea.

RainyDay

Dub13 wrote:

After 3 emails and no reply from the Comsumers Association Of Ireland I think we can take it that they are not keen on this idea.

Or else they aren't very good at reading emails - Why not give Dermot Jewell a call?