65° - 01.07.1968, Blaðsíða 16

Stretching the Kronur
THE CONSUMERS’ UNION
Q. When is a guarantee worse than no guarantee?
A. A guarantee on an imported product allowing free
repairs within a specified time of puschase may be in-
validated by the fact that the purchase date means dealer
purchase, not customer purchase, and even the dealer
may not be able to return the product to the foreign
manufacturer in time. Thus the guarantee is worthless.
Q. Is X brand of refrigerator worth buying?
A. We will give you the information regarding “X”
refrigerator’s advertised performance and guarantee and
advise you.
Q. My new unguaranteed Iceland rug has shrunk;
what shall I do?
A. Come in and discuss the details of your purchase.
Q. Can I get a cash refund instead of credit on a
faulty product?
A. It depends on the kind and value of the product,
on the fault, and on the terms of purchase, if any.
Answering these and many other questions are
what keeps the Consumers’ Union busy in its of-
fice on Austurstraeti in Reykjavik as the Union
celebrates its fifteenth birthday.
Established in 1953, the third such union in
the world, and a member of the International
Consumers’ union from the start, the aims of Ice-
land’s Consumers’ Union are to protect the cus-
tomer, inform the importer and gradually force
Icelandic manufacturers to mark products for the
domestic market as they are required to do for
foreign markets.
Since it is relatively easy to get import licenses,
there are many inquiries from importers regard-
ing new products. The Consumers’ Union pub-
lishes a helpful bulletin entitled NeytendablaciiS
which is distributed to its 10,000 or so members
as well as to all schools, stating the Icelandic laws
governing imported and domestic products so
that the buyer, dealer and importer can be as-
sured the maximum guarantee on their purchases.
Among other things, the bulletin points out that
in many cases, wholesalers must abide by stricter
rules than those required of retailers, but that
wholesalers generally should insist on complete
information from manufacturers of imported
goods, since in the event of customer complaints,
the dealer or retailer who receives these com-
plaints may not, by Icelandic law, refer the cus-
tomer to the manufacturer or importer. Whatever
agreement has been made between manufacturer
and wholesaler and retailer is their business alone,
so that the retailer should be as well informed
about his product as possible so as to be able to
handle customer complaints himself.
The bulletin reminds all that the rights and
responsibilities laws as laid down by the govern-
ment are effective only when no private verbal
or written agreements have been made regarding
a product, or when no house rule exists on the
subject. Don’t sign any agreement you don’t
understand fully; take it home and read it at
leisure. Examine your product whether or not
the dealer has already done so; if you find a
visible defect in the product after taking it home,
it is your fault, not the dealer’s, and your money
cannot be refunded, although it can be if the de-
fect is a hidden one.
The Consumers’ Union is fighting especially
for revision of the old laws still effective which
state that complaints on products must be made
within a year of purchase, since defects in such
permanent products as carpets and refrigerators
often do not appear until after a year’s use. Con-
sumers are urged to report complaints immedia-
tely rather than wait several months if they hope
for redress. They are also fighting the sort of
situation in which a faulty machine is returned to
the dealer, who then sends it abroad to the manu-
facturers for repair while the consumer waits,
machineless. Another area, in which the Con-
sumers’ Union has been successful, is to force
dealers to give a cash refund on damaged goods
rather than credit.
Although there are still no laws compelling
Icelandic manufacturers to attach complete in-
formation and instruction-guarantee labels to
their goods, the Consumers’ Union feels that this
will come about provided that customers demand
such information or refuse to buy, and the Union
believes that its own many instances of inter-
ference in customer-dealer disputes will also make
the dealer demand carefully labelled goods from
the manufacturers.
So effective has the Consumers’ Union become
in recent years that their representatives have
often been asked to sit on official government
committees. The fact of its existence seems to
have given a sense of security to people, for now,
the mention of its name often straightens com-
plaints before they become cases to be tried by
law.
14
65 DEGREES