Consumer Advocacy Description

This book is not just a consumer advocacy book but also a taxpayer's advocacy. It discusses:

1. What prominent people say about Consumer Service?
2. What to look for when dealing with companies or its customer service?
3. How to avoid bad companies?
4. Detailed personal experiences.
5. What we think about some of the government agencies and offices of consumer protection.
6. Your last resort when you cannot get satisfaction from a company.
7. How politics effect the out-come of a court decision.

Excerpt

Throughout the years, I have learned "if you let people step all over you, or if you give people a chance to take advantage .., some will." Of course most people (individually) are honest and decent being that they are human and feel just like you. Most people will go out of their ways to help others without regards/expectation. Meanwhile, there are those who will extend their reach at everybody else's expense. We cannot generalize all to be bad just because of a few bad apples. .

One of the most vital facets businesses do not realize is the importance of focusing on training staff for customer service and consumer feedback. Although there are some companies out there that believe in the theory of "say what you mean" or "do what you say." However, most companies only claim the words but not actually caring about customer service. The most important thought in this book is NOT for you to only judge based on one person's thoughts or experiences but to analyze for yourself what you should do and where should you spend your hard earned money..

When it comes to customer service, almost every office talks the talk. They claims to value, respect or appreciate customers and have the customers best interest at heart. But the real question is whether an office is willing to put its money, its employees' time and effort (resources) on the line to support what it says. As the expression say; "talk is cheap.", "action talks louder than words." Or "stop the lip service and show me what you can do."

As we all know, most of the time when we sign contracts, we sign them under pressure or in a stressed environment. We will/do not have time to read all the details of page after page of an agreement (which is usually in a short time frame). Even if we had hours to spend reading all the terms of an agreement before signing the same, some of us may not understand most of the contents, because it is written by expert lawyers whose jobs are to prepare detailed, biased yet, confusing contracts so that they are not easily understood by layman consumers. To give you a quick note on this issue; I took a lender's contract to an attorney. He was not able to understand all the terms and conditions in that contract without rereading and analyzing. Should we be expected to know those terms when their colleagues have such a hard time? The attorney who read the contract is an excellent attorney, however the terms of the agreement were not clear and very confusing. Do you know how many contracts like this you have signed. Gladly, some state laws protect consumers in such cases. Of course there are not many of those states around; let me give you an example; "(1) The supplier took advantage of the inability of the consumer reasonably to protect the consumer's interests because of the consumer's physical infirmity, ignorance, illiteracy, inability to understand the language of an agreement or similar factor." This is in Kansas State Statute section 50-627...

Do you recall reading the example of the 1989 GMC truck purchased by my friend's wife in the Your Credit = Your Life." book? While Georgia Law and the Court protected the shady dealer, the KSA 50-627(b)(2) states otherwise. It states, "(b) The unconscionable of an act or practice is a question for the court. In determining whether an act or practice is unconscionable, the court shall consider circumstances of which the supplier knew or had reason to know, such as, but not limited to the following that: (2) when the consumer transaction was entered into, the price grossly exceeded the price at which similar property or services were readily obtainable in similar transactions by similar consumers;" Now, where would you like to live?

Another thing that most people do not realize about contracts is the fact, most contracts are very one sided. KSA50-627 (b)(5) says; " (5) the transaction the supplier induced the consumer to enter into was excessively one sided in favor of the supplier;" Do you understand this writing (as legal experts call it "the language"). See how simply it explains the issue? Do you see the extent of consumer protection this law provides. Unfortunately, Kansas is one of those states that relies more on the Federal Law; because its own statute regarding consumer protection and Credit Act is limited (I wish it was not). Not only can I understand the language, but also the protection it provides is so clearly defined.

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Some of us do not realize we supposed to have voice in Washington . These are the people who we elected to at minimum listen to us a little (even if they may have their own agenda and may not care about our rights, interest, or well being). The address below should take you to a website of the representatives who oversee all the financial aspect of the nation. Please go the site and contact your representative about the financial institutions, credit card companies, Insurance companies, etc. At least you can ask for the representative or department within the committee or even a Government agency that monitors a particular sector in which the company you have complaint about is classified/operates. The site to the House Committee for Financial services is:

http://financialservices.house.gov/who.html#startcontent

Also please contact us; post your message, comment or complaint on our site about the company. Please include the company name and if you have a file you want to attached to your complaint, please e-mail us the file with your complaint. We do consumer advocacy and will be able to help you.