The various problems faced by consumers in their daily life are discussed below:
(i) Adulteration, that is, adding something inferior to the product being sold. This is a practice we come across in the case of cereals, spices, tea leaves, edible oil, petrol, etc.
(ii) Sale of spurious products, that is, selling something of no value instead of the real product. This is often found in the case of medicines and drugs or health care products.
(iii) Use of false weights and measures is another malpractice which some traders adopt while selling the goods. Goods which are sold by weight (kg.) like vegetables, cereals, sugar, etc., those sold by measures (metre) like textile fabrics, suit pieces, are sometimes found to be less than the actual weight or length.
(iv) Sale of duplicates, that is, goods that indicates a mark which shown it is of superior quality than what it actually is. For example, goods which are locally made, are sold at a higher price as imported items expected to be of superior quality.
(v) Hoarding and black-marketing is another problem that consumer often face. When any essential commodity is not made available in the open market and stocks are intentionally held back by dealers it is known as hoarding. Its purpose is to create an artificial scarcity, to push up the prices.
(vi) Tie-in-Sales: Buyers of durable consumer goods are sometimes required to buy some other goods as a pre-condition to sale or may be required to pay after-sales service charges for one year in advance. You may have heard about tying up of new gas connections with the sale of gas stoves (burners).
(vii) Offering gifts having no additional value, or coupons to collect a gift on the next purchase of some product are practices aimed at alluring consumers to buy a product. Often gifts are offered after the price of the product on sale has been increased.
(viii) Misleading advertisement is yet another practice by which consumers are deceived. Such advertisements falsely represent a product or service to be of superior quality, grade or standard, or falsely asserts the need for or usefulness of a product or service.
(ix) Sale of sub-standard goods i.e., sale of goods which do not conform to prescribed quality standard particularly for safety. Such products include pressure cookers, stoves, electric gadgets (heaters, toasters, etc.), and cooking gas cylinders.
