The campaign is intended to introduce the Council’s new service: preparation of statements of claim on behalf of consumers, to be filed with the court. Consumer Council CEO: “We want to encourage the public to become an active partner in the fight to realize their rights as consumers.”
The Consumer Council is launching a new publicity campaign, the first in its history to run on television. The campaign is intended to introduce the Council’s new service, preparation of statements of claim for the Small Claims Court on behalf of consumers, and to encourage the consumer public to make use of this new service.
The Council’s advertisements, in the form of sponsorship slots, will present a case in which the consumer is wronged: “You ordered an air conditioner and received a fan?”, along with the slogan: “The Consumer Council – with you all the way to the Small Claims Court.” Advertising agency INBOX produced the campaign for the Consumer Council, and it has been launched on television, in the newspapers, and on the internet.
The Consumer Council is the representative consumer organization, and it operates by virtue of a specific enabling law. However, it is not a government body that can issue orders to businesses. What happens instead is that the Council steps into the consumer’s shoes in connection with a complaint that is filed, and represents the consumer in negotiations with the business involved, in an attempt to obtain for the consumer what is rightfully theirs. In those instances in which – in the Council’s view – the consumer is in the right, but the business concerned is not willing to reinstate the consumer’s entitlements, the new service comes into action: preparation of a statement of claim for the Small Claims Court. These statements of claim are drawn up by law students, who have been given both professional training for handling consumer complaints and legal training in the broader area of consumer protection law.
The service is provided at no charge, and is available to the general public.
Preparation of statements of claim for the Small Claims Court is just one of the services offered by the Council to the public. Among the other services available: the Consumer Council Patrol – comparison of prices between products and baskets of products; ”Consumerism at a Click” – a self-help service for canceling transactions; “Read the Bill” – a guide to reading utility accounts; and, of course, the consumer service division – handling complaints from consumers and helping them defend their rights.
Adv. Ehud Peleg, CEO of the Consumer Council: “Our goals are to work to defend consumers and protect their rights, and to educate the public to be intelligent consumers. We want to encourage the public to become active partners with us in the fight to realize their rights as consumers. We invite them to contact the Council, which will represent them in dealing with businesses, and where necessary will also draw up a statement of claim for the Small Claims Court. Furthermore, this service sends a clear message to businesses – that they can no longer ‘try it on’ (as the British would say). The Consumer Council now has the ‘teeth’ to ensure that justice is done to the individual consumer, and the deterrent power to ensure that consumers, as a group, are not harmed.”
