Consumers need to know their rights...says Harris

By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN addressing a wide cross-section of personnel from existing and emerging businesses along with many consumers, Minister of Trade and Finance Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris stressed the need for consumers to exercise their rights and encouraged service-providers to improve customer care.

Dr. Harris looked at this year in perspective and highlighted that the country has been faced with food and energy crises, driven for the most part by external factors.

He also noted that the country has withstood the economic challenges quite well, which has caused consumers to “tighten our belts, make sacrifices and make more prudent choices about what we would buy, at what price and when we will buy them”.

He noted that consumers have begun to compare not only the prices in the supermarkets, but also at the gas pumps, at the fast food outlets and even at street stalls. Harris further informed that his Ministry has a monthly list of about 25 main items and the prices offered at major outlets to give consumers a better view of choices.

He said his Ministry has already written to all suppliers of gas that “as soon as the price is given, it should come into immediate effect” so that consumers can enjoy the benefit of that reduction.

“We consumers must continue to insist on our rights as a lot of times people are taking advantage of us because we do not do so. We need to insist that we pay the prices on controlled items which the government has stipulated and we must pay nothing higher.

~~Adz:Right~~You should insist on getting your receipt and you should insist that when you are purchasing items the prices are being clearly displayed. We as consumers must begin to react responsibly each day and at every transactional engagement.

“Suppliers of goods and services must recognize the consumers’ sovereignty. It is important to note that when one is faced with choices, the consumer becomes king. It is not just theory, it is practise. Suppliers therefore have to be responsive to customers’ needs in a competitive market.

Most marketing gurus have consented that success in a business lies in product, price, quality and customer care. They must give you the goods that you want, but they must not just provide the goods, they must give you at an affordable price and with quality customer care.”

Minister Harris reiterated that consumers have the right to forget and dismiss suppliers and go to someone else and opined that choice gives consumers power and constitutes an option for development, a step that “disciplines the market”.

“If we are going to survive as a Federation, we need a lot of the competitive challenges to have people really come to believe we appreciate your business. In their serving you, you must get the feeling they appreciate doing business with you because they appreciate that you had a choice and chose them.

You deserve something in return. That is part of your responsibility. Through this, we will create a better business environment in St. Kitts-Nevis.”