With growing consumer demand and the rapid development of e-commerce, disputes between enterprises and consumers are becoming more common. Disputes can arise during purchase, use, or after-sales services like warranty, returns, and support. This affects both consumer trust and the reputation of the enterprise. Therefore, this article will analyze disputes between enterprises and consumers, along with resolution methods for enterprises and consumers to identify disputes and refer to methods to resolve them.
1. Concept of disputes between enterprises and consumers
Under Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Protection of Consumers’ Rights 2023, a consumer is defined as a person who purchases or uses products, goods, or services for personal, family, or organizational consumption and daily activities, excluding commercial purposes.
Based on the concept of a consumer, disputes between enterprises and consumers are conflicts of legal rights and obligations between a consumer and an enterprise.
2. Common types of disputes between enterprises and consumers
Disputes between enterprises and consumers include:
• Disputes over the rights and obligations in the contract: These disputes involve rights and obligations agreed between the parties, such as the right to terminate the contract, the right to refuse delivery, rights related to exchanges or returns, and payment obligations. Such disputes typically arise when contractual provisions are unclear or lack specificity.
• Disputes related to product quality: These disputes often arise when products do not meet the quality standards described by the business, are damaged, or fail to comply with published specifications or standards.
• Disputes regarding pricing and payment: These disputes typically arise from hidden fees or charges that were not agreed upon between the business and the consumer, or occur when businesses fail to provide refunds in cases where consumers return products or cancel services.
• Disputes over after-sales obligations: After goods are sold, businesses may have obligations such as product warranties, refunds for defective products, or assistance with returns and exchanges. Disputes may arise when a business does not fulfil its warranty obligations or when a consumer cannot adequately demonstrate eligibility for refunds or returns.
• Disputes over personal data: These disputes may arise when a business uses consumer personal information for unauthorized purposes, without explicit consent, or when the business leaks customer personal information.
3. Methods for resolving disputes between enterprises and consumers
Under Article 54 of the Law on Protection of Consumers’ Rights 2023, disputes can be settled through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or Court. The methods of settling disputes between businesses and consumers may be adopted in person, online or in another manner under relevant regulations of law.
• Negotiation: When a dispute occurs, the consumers have the right to request businesses to negotiate.
Under Clause 2, Article 56 of the Law on Protection of Consumers’ Rights 2023, except for exceptional cases, businesses must accept negotiation requests from consumers.
• Mediation: Besides negotiation, both businesses and consumers may mutually agree to appoint a third party for mediation purposes.
Under Article 62 of the Law on Protection of Consumers’ Rights 2023, when carrying out mediation, mediation must adhere to the following principles:
– Objectivity, honesty, good faith, impartiality, fairness, voluntariness and self-determination are ensured.
– Organizations and individuals carrying out mediation and parties to mediation must keep confidentiality of information relating to the mediation unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties or prescribed by law.
• Arbitration/Court: If the negotiation and mediation fail, the parties may initiate a lawsuit to the Arbitration or a competent Court to protect legitimate rights and interests.
Note: Arbitration can only be applied if the parties have an arbitration agreement, which may be entered into before or after the dispute.
Thus, it can be seen that disputes between businesses and consumers arise for various reasons. When a dispute arises, businesses and consumers can choose the dispute resolution methods prescribed by law. Effective use of dispute resolution methods will minimize material damage and reputational losses for enterprises and consumers.
The above information constitutes the article “Disputes between Enterprises and Consumers – Methods of Dispute Settlement”. We hope this article is helpful to readers interested in this topic.
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