What is consumer terrorism and how to fight it

What is consumer terrorism

Consumer terrorism is the behavior of a client when he abuses his rights and the tools that protect them for profit.

The relationship between a client and a seller is a complex mechanism. Business is primarily focused on obtaining benefits. At the same time, the consumer must receive a product or service that is in good working order and meets the stated characteristics. But entrepreneurs can be dishonest. For example, a cake maker may accept an order with an example and promise to make exactly the same confectionery product, but in the end deliver an indistinct pancake with a completely different decor. Others sometimes sell defective products - not always by accident. Stores on marketplaces periodically offer counterfeits or simply use false photographs for their products. In this case, the client can and generally must fight to protect his rights.

But consumer terrorism has nothing to do with this. In this case, the buyer does not seek to protect his rights, but to extract additional benefits that go beyond the usual buyer-seller interaction. At the same time, they threaten with lawsuits, negative reviews and other tools that can be used to influence the company.

What forms does consumer terrorism have?

Unscrupulous buyers may behave as follows.

Abuse the right to exchange and return

By law, the buyer has the right to exchange or return the item if it does not suit him. And overall it's not bad. You can buy, for example, a bedside table, but it does not fit into the space allocated for it. But this right also gives the buyer room for abuse.

And marketplace sellers especially suffer from the right to return and replace. Because in addition to the law on consumer protection, internal rules of the sites apply here. Which give even more opportunities for unscrupulous buyers to turn around.

According to Denis Pashkov, CEO of the Fitness Boutique company, there are many scenarios that consumers work under. For example, they buy a volleyball, play with it, and after 7 days return it as used. At the same time, they still write negative reviews. Or a person orders an expensive ball (some kind of professional one - Mikasa for 12,000 rubles), at the point of delivery he turns away from the operator - supposedly to check the product, and exchanges it for a fake. And then he returns the purchase, citing the fact that it is not the original. Or the buyer buys an expensive bike from the marketplace, receives a box, removes all the body kit from it at home and sends it back as an incomplete item. “Needless to say, this is a huge loss for sellers. Not only is the product returned in obscene form, but there is also nowhere to put it - only in the trash,” explains Pashkov.

Take advantage of gaps in the registration procedure

Any sale is a transaction that is formalized according to certain rules. Sometimes their violation is not so critical, but can have consequences if the terrorist consumer intends to take advantage.

Refuse to pay

With goods, despite the nuances, it’s easier. In such a transaction there is some tangible item that may or may not be of good quality, delivered or not, or have the stated characteristics or not. With services it is more difficult.

Let's say a person came for a haircut and showed the hairdresser a photo. He said that the model had a different hair structure, but the client did not listen to him and insisted that they do just that. As a result, the haircut is the same, but the client is not happy and refuses to pay. And what should we do, since like/dislike is a subjective concept?

If the service is provided poorly, then the consumer really has the right demand that the work be brought to the required quality or a corresponding reduction in price. But abuse is also possible here.

Take advantage of loopholes in the law

The cases described above are rather situational. But it happens that the intentions of a consumer-terrorist are much more serious.

However, according to Salivon, there is another problem arising from the court decision in favor of the consumer - lack of statutory obligations for clients to provide payment details to repay debt under legal decision. A person receives a writ of execution and waits 1–2 years for the amount of the penalty to increase significantly. Thus, the consumer-terrorist ends up with a significant amount that exceeds the cost of the goods by 4–10 times. Requirements from the seller or manufacturer to provide details are simply ignored.

How to fight consumer terrorism

Many of these measures will also help build better relationships with conscientious clients.

Do not lie in the description of a product or service

This is especially true for online sales. In offline stores you can touch the product, but on the Internet a person is guided by the information that is given to him. And if it's not entirely true, it not only gives terrorist consumers some wiggle room, it also frustrates regular customers.

This also applies to services. For example, clients of hairdressers often encounter the fact that the hairdresser offers them a hair wash, but in the end it turns out that this is a service for an additional fee.

The fewer surprises and the more transparent the relationship, the less negative the experience will be.

Analyze the process chain

This will help you understand where the hole is where discontent arises. Perhaps the packaging does not protect the goods, which leads to damage and conflicts with customers. Or there is not enough information on the card, which gives the client more reasons to return. Or managers do not know how to work with conflicting consumers, do not know the rules of the site and therefore cannot defend their position.

Once you understand where the problem is, you can fix it.

Train staff on how to act in case of unforeseen situations

Sometimes consumer terrorism is not a skillfully planned action, but a situational reaction of a client to a product or service that did not satisfy him. Therefore, it is important that employees know how to nip conflict in the bud. Think in advance what to do in different situations, especially in very problematic ones.

Collect evidence

Even if you were right and behaved as correctly as possible, the terrorist consumer does not necessarily respond symmetrically and can take the conflict into the public space or go to court. In this case, it is good to have evidence that you are right. For example, video recording at the stage of assembly and delivery of the order to confirm that you sent everything in good condition.

Comply with the law

It is important to monitor the document flow and act within the law, so that later it will be easier to defend yourself.

Practicing trial lawyer Amir Kakimov recommends the following:

• Study contracts more carefully and not include clauses that unreasonably limit the rights of consumers in the hope that buyers are legally illiterate.
• React to the demands of pre-trial claims in such a way as to resolve contradictions at the pre-trial stage, because a case brought to court can result in even greater losses.
• Introduce only high-quality goods for sale and debug service for their replacement or high-quality repairs, fulfill warranty obligations for services provided and work performed.
• Monitor at the system level the risks of encountering consumer terrorism: some unified method of combating this phenomenon no, but full and impeccable compliance with the requirements of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights will minimize losses from such clients.

If you follow these principles, then in the event of a trial there is a chance to prove that the seller or contractor did everything to resolve the issue peacefully. Such circumstances will increase the chances of tipping the scales in favor of entrepreneurs.