Lawyer, civil rights specialist and business consultant Gvantsa Zhorzholiani spoke about consumer rights in the morning program of the radio station Commersant.
She explained what rights consumers have when buying products and what are consumer rights when shopping online.
“In fact, when trading, the trader must give information to the buyer, give a guarantee and ensure delivery.
The name of the product, selling price, country of origin must be indicated in an unambiguous, easily identifiable and clearly legible manner for all products offered by traders.
Providing information implies that the, country of origin and exact price must be indicated in understandable language. Of course, delivery must be made without undue delay and in any event within 30 calendar days ,” the lawyer says.
As Gvantsa Zhorzholiani notes, if a client is dissatisfied with the terms of service, the merchant shipped the wrong product or size. color, etc, he can claim his claim on the competition agency’s hotline and on the online platform.
“With the involvement of the Competition Agency,a consumer, under the law, must document his claim and find out where he is right and where he lies.” Consumers can call the National Competition Agency's hotline to file a complaint. They can also do this online. Customer complaints will be reviewed and a decision will be made within 10 days.
A customer can demand to change the product, return the money, receive a discount, or replace the purchased product with another.
If traders found to be in breach of consumer protection legislation, the object will be fined. The amount of the fine to be imposed is determined by law as follows. The company calculates the volume of goods sold in one year, the fine is 2% of this amount. In case of repeated violation, the fine doubles,” Gvantsa Zhorzholiani points out.
In her words, a customer can unconditionally return an item purchased online within 14 days of purchase, although there are exceptions when the item can’t be returned.
“A customer can unconditionally return goods purchased online within 14 days. The item cannot be returned if it has been used, if it was purchased at an auction, if the seal is broken, and most importantly, the product must cost more than GEL 30,” the lawyer says.
She answered a question of one of the program’s listeners about the non-refund for a ticket and the placement of money on the balance if a concert is cancelled. When asked by the listener whether his right was violated, the lawyer replied that in this case, non-refund of the ticket and even crediting it to the user’s account balance is a violation of the consumer’s rights, and the buyer can submit an application to the Competition Agency.
