Obstacles to Consumer Awareness and Understanding of Consumer Contracts (in French only)

Author

Geneviève Duchesne

Organization

Union des consommateurs

Published

2008

Summary

When merchants promote a product and/or service, they generally insist only on aspects likely to induce the potential customer to sign a contract with them, thus neglecting to inform him adequately about all the terms binding him. Aware that merchants are not disposed to attract consumers’ attention to certain provisions of their adhesion contracts, various Canadian legislatures have adopted regulations intended to improve consumer knowledge of contractual terms and conditions. But despite those regulations, many consumers only find out when claiming their rights that they have agreed, for
example, to clauses involving an exclusion of liability (disclaimer), unilateral changes or
termination, compulsory arbitration, or prohibitions to launch or participate in class action suits. Indeed, it appears that a large number of consumers are unknowingly subject to contractual terms and conditions that limit their rights and disregard their interests, and it can prove very difficult for consumers to get the courts to declare such terms invalid. If consumers so often demonstrate ignorance of contractual provisions binding them, it’s because numerous obstacles deter them from an awareness and understanding of the consumer contract (for instance: terms accessible only through hyperlinks, terms not sent to consumers or sent only after the contract is concluded, complex legal language, fonts making reading difficult, very long contract
documents, provisions allowing the merchant to unilaterally amend a contract’s terms after its
conclusion, etc.). In addition, those barriers are likely to vary according to the environment (online, by telephone, in the store) in which the agreement was reached. The research identifies obstacles to the consumer’s knowledge and understanding of the
consumer contract, while taking into account three environments (online, by telephone, in the store) in which such contracts are generally entered into. The research also examines obstacles that consumer contracts may raise to the consumer’s knowledge of his own rights under those contracts.

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French only

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database