UAE- How stories make kids smart consumers

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)The Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) has wrapped up an awareness campaign aimed at protecting children from unscrupulous traders. As part of the campaign the department's consumer protection section distributed books among children at Modhesh World in the Dubai World Trade Centre that contained stories with messages about intelligent consumerism. The stories stress importance of retaining purchase bills and not rushing into making purchases. Some stories talk about unscrupulous vendors and the threat they pose to society. The stories were written in an interesting humorous and thought-provoking way so as to entertain children and impart moral lessons.

Complaints & Responses Tampered meter broken-down car: A man filed a complaint against a car agency saying the car he bought from them broke down and the agency failed to replace it with a new one. The consumer complaints section contacted the workshop and the technicians informed the section that the car owner had tampered with the mileage meter which showed that the car had done only 26000 kilometers when it had actually done 115000 kilometers. They also informed that a modern system fixed in cars makes sure there will be an automatic breakdown if the meter is manipulated upon. The car owner (the complainant) was told about this and he asked for the complaint to be withdrawn.

All for a battery: A man lodged a complaint against an auto dealer alleging that he purchased a brand new car from the dealer which broke down and he was not compensated with a new car. The complainant took the car to the dealer's service centre and the technicians said the problem was with the battery which they agreed to replace. The owner however demanded that he get a new car. The complaints section contacted the car dealer to check on the complaint and it was convinced that the problem was with the battery. The service centre informed the officials that the battery had been changed and that the car could be collected. The complainant was informed of this and the case was closed.

No boat no celebration: A consumer complained against a boat rental office claiming that he had paid the office Dh1500 a year ago to hire a boat to celebrate his son's birthday. He added that the owner of the boat rental office was reluctant to hand him a boat and came up with various excuses every time he approached them. On one occasion he was told that the weather was not suitable and on another occasion he was told that a ban had been imposed on boating. The owner then started switching off his phone to avoid the complainant's calls. An investigation was opened and the consumer complaint section official got in touch with the owner of the boat rental shop. The money was paid back to the complainant and the issue was settled.

Ahmed Naji director of Service Points said the campaign was launched out of the DED's keenness to recognise the importance of children in society. They constitute the nucleus of the family structure and represent the present and future of society he stressed.

The four-day campaign drew participation from 4000 children at Modhesh World. The book was designed to "ingrain ethical principles in the minds of children" as well as reply to queries by the public in general.

The book also details the role played by the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Section in the emirate. It also gives details on dealing with trade stores and lodging complaints against them through contact numbers specified on cards available at the stores. These cards carry the phone number 600-545-555 through which complaints can be lodged.

'Rationalise back to school costs'

Meanwhile Nasser Al Zahid Senior director of the Follow Up Section called on teachers and parents to work together to create a generation that can be counted on to build a bright future. Students have certain requirements said Al Zahid the prices of which tend to go up during the back-to-school season.

"We urge the traders not to raise prices during this season for you are profiting at the expense of our children. "We urge parents to visit different outlets and compare prices before purchasing essential items." Al Zahid also called on schools to make fees affordable to parents.

4700 used mobile phones sold as new

The Department of Economic Development Dubai (DED) has booked 20 trade establishments for promoting and selling used mobile phones as new ones after modifying and re-packaging them. The department seized 4700 smart phones of different kinds with a market value of Dh7 million after raiding several shops across the emirate. The counterfeit goods were destroyed according to the applicable rules.

Director of the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Section at DED Ibrahim Behzad said they found this new technique of trade fraud prevalent in the electronics sector were second hand mobile phones were being sold as new ones after overhauling them.

"Inspectors at the department found 18 trade stores and two warehouses in Naif Al Satwa and Al Ramool areas promoting and selling old phones as new ones. They confiscated a large quantity of such phones from the two warehouses" Behzad said.

The errant trade outlets changed some parts of the devices and also erased information and data from all the memory cards of the handsets before selling them as new phones.

"The Intellectual Property Rights Protection Section had received many reports from sources at local markets that some trade establishments were cheating consumers by selling them old and used phones as new after modifying them" he said.

Earlier the department had received a number of complaints from consumers who said their mobile phones did not comply with the set specifications of the new phone The complaints were investigated and the phones were sent to the bodies concerned for scrutiny. Results he said showed that the specifications of the phones in question were not identical to the new devices.

Behzad said the errant trade stores accessorised the used phones with chargers and duplicate headsets and sold them at prices ranging between Dh1500 and Dh2000.

Behzad said the trade shops get the order to replace old used mobile phones from customers who want to replace old handsets with new ones by just paying the price difference between the old and the new.

In order to do so these trade establishments would just change the display of the phone and repair the handset using duplicate spare parts. They would then package it with fake accessories in order to make it look attractive Behzad said.

Salah Al Deberky