Consumer standards vary from province to province. This inconveniences both merchants, who have to adapt to them, and consumers, who make purchases in a province other than the one in which they reside. The explosive growth of e-commerce in Canada exacerbates the importance of this issue. In 2012, the value of online orders placed by Canadians was up 24% on 2010, reaching $18.9 billion.
Our literature search and interviews with experts identified six problem areas. These areas are e-commerce, consumer credit, legal warranties, class actions (and related contractual clauses), gift cards and cell phones. Our research focuses on these six areas.
We also looked at the laws governing these areas in the 10 Canadian provinces and three territories. We found that consumers are protected by the law of the place where they make a purchase. In fact, when a consumer makes an in-person purchase in another province, he or she is protected by the law of that province.
It also enabled us to discover how consumers' rights vary depending on where they live. For example, in some provinces, citizens are protected by the law of their province when buying online, whether the supplier is located in their province or in another province. Similarly, clauses restricting access to the courts and forcing consumers to take legal action in a province other than their province of residence are prohibited only in certain provinces. Finally, when it comes to legal warranties, consumers in some provinces are better protected than others.
We also conducted a web survey of 2,000 Canadians. From this we learned that consumers know very little about their rights. This lack of information is particularly apparent in certain areas. For example, of those respondents protected by the law of their province, very few know that they are protected when they buy over the Internet from a supplier located in another province. Similarly, the vast majority of respondents are unaware of the law applicable to class actions (including the clauses relating thereto) and to cell phones. Finally, Canadian consumers are also confused about the law applicable to legal warranties.
Even if they are not familiar with the laws that protect them, few consumers say they have experienced a problem following the purchase of goods from another province. Those who do report problems cite defective goods, payment disputes and unfulfilled warranties.
Our survey also reveals that, in general, consumers would like to see uniform laws from coast to coast. Specifically, they want this to be the case for rules governing consumer credit, class actions, cell phones and gift cards. They also said they'd like information on consumer protection laws to be more readily available.
Consumers' opinions will certainly be of interest to provincial legislators and the Consumer Measures Committee when it comes to determining the best protection for Canadian consumers in the six areas studied.
