The Israel Consumer Council has launched a new forum about consumer rights. Consumers may enter in the forum through the Council's website:
http://www.consumers.org.il/category/consumers-forum
Many consumers do not know where to turn when they encounter consumer wrongdoing and unfairness in consumer related issues: when a business has misled a consumer, when a newly purchased product turned out to be defective, in case companies and businesses ignore consumers' requests, etc... Public awareness regarding rights and protections granted by law of consumer protection is not high.
Following many questions addressed to the Consumer Council on consumer rights issues, it was decided to set up a forum in which consumers may get answers to these questions from experts working for the Council. The creation of the forum constitutes an additional channel in which Israeli consumers can get reliable and qualified answers to their questions, in addition to the current channels operated by the Consumer Council: "Contact Us" in the Councils' website, the Facebook page of the Israel Consumer Council, requests by fax, by mail and by phone, and mainly through complaint forms / request for advice.
In 2013, Israel Consumer Council received about 40 thousands requests from consumers, in addition to thousands of additional requests received through the above-mentioned channels. The purpose of the forum is to provide the quickest response possible to consumers so they know their rights and obligations in transactions and, this way, try to avoid future complaints and promote the level of fairness in commerce.
Consumer Council CEO, Adv. Ehud Peleg, says this is another measure undertaken by the Council in order to provide answers to consumers' requests. The amount of complaints and requests for advice we receive is rising each year; accordingly, we develop additional tools in order to help consumers exhausting their rights when confronted to businesses and service providers. Council experts are waiting for you, and, through the forum, they will gladly chat with you and answer all your questions. Peleg adds that knowledge is power and that one of the objectives of the Council as a representative consumer organization by law is to strengthen consumer protection against wrongdoing and unfairness.
