Monday, Feb 15, 2010

Gulf News

Dubai Dubai's Department of Economic Development (DED) said yesterday that all retailers in the city must offer a refund and 14-day exchange policy.

"The consumer should have the choice to not take a product that is not to their liking," Omar Bu Shahab, Chief Executive of the DED's Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division, said at a gathering of retailers organised by the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), also the organisers of the Dubai Shopping Festival.

The government departments are highlighting consumer and retailer rights during the Shopping Festival, which covers malls across the city. Retailers are offering sales of up to 70 per cent.

While the prices have been reduced to boost consumer confidence, conflict is likely to rise.

Bu Shahab said that in cases where similar products are not available, retailers should exchange the item for another item of a similar price. "In any case, they have to have the exchange and refund policy," he said.

Inspectors are sent daily to monitor the compliance of the law in each market zone and infringement is registered. Bu Shahab said that while some compliance failures have been registered, retailers are only warned on their first offence.

Closure

The final stage results in the closure of the retail outlet. He said that there are 100 criteria that retailers must follow for complete adherence to the law.

One issue noticed recently involves retailers' promotional advertisements being inconsistent with the actual promotions.

The department will launch a consumer protection awareness campaign soon, highlighting the crit-eria and also how consumers can file complaints with the DED.

Laila Suhail, chief executive of DEPE, said: "The enforcement of the rights is not to make life difficult for retailers or to favour consumers, but rather to promote a healthy trading environment which is transparent and regulated."

"Retailers have a number of criteria to ensure the law is not infringed in any way, and the better these responsibilities are implemented, the less room for retailer and consumer conflict," Bu Shahab said.

A retailer participating in the festival, Agnes Varboki, operations manager of Hamac, said: "The awareness is important because in Dubai, as a consumer, we find some abuse of refunding, exchange of damaged items and also pricing."

By Nadia Saleem

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