Consumers being cheated

Some methods of cheating consumers
Some methods of short changing the consumer :

1) Wires : The conductor diameter of the wire sold to you is actually less by upto 50% of the actual diameter supposedly sold to you. Measure it and you will see. Yet the bundles carry the ISI mark. Surely the ISI certification is not so liberal with tolerances. Here I am not talking about the purity of the metal. That is another issue altogether. The bundles of wires are marked 100 metres by length, but actual length given can vary from 70 metres to 90 metres. Only in case of very standard companies wires, it may be 100 metres. When sold loose, the measure is by yards. It is illegal in India to sell by yards. I can understand some amount of tolerance allowed for purity of metal or diameter, but what is the excuse for measuring less length and allowing it ?
2) Electrical applicances : The claims made are lofty and the performance poor. The ampere rating is much lower than what is marked. The safety and performance better not discussed.
3) TV and refrigerators : The consumption of power marked is grossly arbitrary. I have a refrigerator (approx. 370 litres, double door) whose consumption marked as approx. 350 units per year. Which means it consumes less than one unit a day ! Is this true ? Even a ceiling fan consumes much more. Yet this refrigerator has the BEE certification for 350 units. Is the certification so liberal on tolerances and assumptions ? Manufacturer did not answer my queries.
4) Wood : All wooden sections are sold, short measured. If you buy a flat strip of say 50 mm wide, it will actually be only 45 mm wide. If you buy plywood, say 20 mm, what you get is 18 mm or 17 mm , but the marking put is 20 mm. Shopkeepers explain, 18 mm = 20 mm
5) Glass and plastic sheets : Again same thing. Thickness is less than what it is supposed to be. Here again there is another trick. If you buy one 2 ¼ square feet, you are charged for 3 square feet. Someone else buy ¾ square feet, he is charged for one sft. So for total 3 sft material, the shop keeper recovered money for 4 sft and so on.
6) Cheating on taxes : In the retail business, mostly the seller does not provide any bill even after having collected tax. If you insist, what he gives is a “QUOTATION” or “ESTIMATE”. These must actually be given before a sale and what is to be given after sale is a BILL. If you are persistent, seller will give you a bill, but ask for extra VAT. So now you have paid VAT twice. Some sellers purposely charge higher rate of VAT than applicable. The government is happpy with this and the seller also, because he can offset his tax payments against higher collection made. He ends up depositing less to to the treasury after legally offsetting taxes. Consumer lost out. Sometimes, the tax is quoted separately, but while making the bill, it is shown included in the price of purchase. It makes no difference to the end consumer , if he is using the thing in his house for his own use. But it results in an additional profit for the shopkeeper, equal to the tax amount. Nowadays, many shops give bills on thermally printed paper whose printing erases after few days. So in case of dispute, you do not have the original signed bills and courts do not entertain Xeroxes without originals in hand. Why do the authorities turn a blind eye to this ? Just because seller has a thermal printer, will the authorities allow it ? Will they similarly allow me to use my DVD writer to make duplicate copies of copywright films ?
7) Medicines, tonics, soaps, shampoo, lotions, health care and sanitation products : Lofty claims based on obscure unsubstantiated data. Exhorbitant pricing. Why don’t they attract the “Prevention of Magic Remedies Act”?
8) Customer Care : It is nowadays a fashion to give a customer care number. Even micro and tiny companies have customer care numbers which are answered by persons who have no idea of what it is all about (By the way, another statement, TnC apply, is being indiscriminately used even by small shopkeepers having no idea of any TnC or what is TnC !) The customer care numbers of big companies are with professional call centres. The guy is given a list of replies to match and fit questions of all descriptions. No matter what your question, he will answer from this prepared list even if the answer is irrelevant. The idea is to frustrate and stone-wall you totally. Some sort of regulating mechanism is needed here.
9) Payments and refunds : Most have very robust systems of collecting payments through ECS, Credit cards, drop boxes, RTGS etc. All have the system that you first pay whatever is the demand and then raise your objections. Otherwise pay further interest and penalty. None have any system of refund. You are made to run around, deal with the call centre and pray that you get lucky. Whereever there are consumer redressal mechanisms like nodal officer etc., they have no clue about the actual problem and are no better than the call centre guy.
10) Railways mega block : Since last about 10 years, this is a new term drilled into the minds of passengers. Now nobody minds irregular service on Sundays, because , Oh ! today it’s a mega block !. Why can’t the railways carry on DAILY maintenance during night hours ? To satisfy their employees, this term was coined and the people have soaked it in. I am here not talking about the other issues with railways. That is a separate chapter; just like there is a separate railway budget !

I can go on giving more examples covering your electricity bills, gas bills, phone bills, taxi and autorickshaw charges, school-college fees, coaching classes fees, restaurant bills, grocery bills, various tickets, credit cards, loans, in short covering every aspect. That is why I say you are being cheated the moment you step out of the house.

Tragedy in our country is that either people are too busy (?), or ignorant, or indifferent, or afraid, but definitely, ashamed of sticking their neck out against such practices. If somebody does it, he is marked as a sadist and trouble maker. And so the juggernaut moves on. more