NO VIDEO, NO REFUND POLICY IS ILLEGAL

NO VIDEO, NO REFUND POLICY IS ILLEGAL Long before online orders became part of our lives, we already had a problem with errant merchants making up their own “no return no exchange” policies. Even back then, laws have been passed to counter those policies, but I guess the world never runs out of bad people who always come up with bad rules. According to DTI Undersecretary Amanda Nograles, the no returns no refund or no exchange policy falls under deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts or practices, which is in violation of Republic Act 7394, also known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines. In the old days, all that we needed as proof of purchase were the official receipts that we get when we buy any product in the stores. That was the way it was then, and that is the way it should still be now. But again, no thanks to the bad merchants, that is actually not the way it is now. And to some extent, it may have even gotten worse now. It appears that requiring customers to present videos as proof of delivery and identity is just another way of violating the law. Refusing to refund or exchange for any reason boils down to the same thing, and that means not honoring the rights of consumers to either get a refund or get a good replacement. Violating the rights of consumers is a crime even when there were no online orders, and it is still a crime now, more so with online orders, except that now, we are talking about serious cybercrime. IKE SENERES/04-06-2024