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The faster means of communication such as the email and SMS have made it possible to make the consumer movement stronger, writes Pushpa Girimaji DURING a visit to Bangalore last month, I noticed a rare phenomenon — of consumers resorting to boycott to express their anger. In the second week of September, newspapers were writing about the consumer boycott of petrol pumps on September 22, in protest against the frequent hike in petrol prices. On that particular day, consumers would not buy petrol, the reports said. I was surprised to know that a small group of consumers came up with this idea while discussing the frequent petrol price hike and they sent SMS to their friends suggesting a boycott. They in-turn sent more messages to their friends and that’s how the boycott call went around the city. E-mails were also used to discuss the boycott programme. Inquiries with petrol pumps in several parts of the city revealed that the boycott may not have been completely successful, but it had made an impact. Several petrol pumps recorded a much lower sale than usual. Today, electronic messaging, both SMS and e-mail, is bringing together consumers to fight for their rights. These are not consumer or social activists but they use the modern communication system to express their views and this brings out spontaneous response from others who may agree with them. Through a mobile phone or an e-mail, one can send a message across to a number of people in the shortest possible time with just a click of a mouse or a key. So obviously, these fast modes of communication will play a major role in bringing together citizens/consumers. If you are an Internet user, you must have come across many a message warning you against some fraud, or unfair trade practice. And most of these are genuine alerts sent by a consumer to warn others about it. Some years ago, a consumer raised the issue of a credit card company using unfair methods to sell insurance. The card company offered accident insurance on a trial basis for a few months, free of cost. After that, it should have asked its customers whether they waned to continue with it and pay for it. Instead, it presumed that all those who did not write to them saying that they did not want it, preferred to keep the policy. Apparently, it had sent a letter to this effect, which most consumers had not read. When the credit card company started billing consumers for the insurance that they did not even want, they began to protest. They also began warning other credit card holders, through e-mail and soon it turned into a massive protest against the unfair trade practice perpetrated by the company. Meanwhile, someone also complained to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority about this and the card company was forced to refund the premium that it had collected from its customers. In the United Kingdom, the Office of Fair Trading often issues alerts to consumers about unfair trade practices or frauds that it comes across so that consumers do not fall prey to them. In India, there may not be such alerts from the government or even consumer bodies, but e-mails from other consumers certainly fill the gap. So the next time you feel strongly about an issue and want to share it with other consumers or would like to take it up with the authorities, try sending e-mails to friends. An SMS will also do. |
