"Buyer's Corner": what should be and how to arrange it correctly

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Entrepreneurship is a type of activity consisting of strategically significant actions and decisions and tactical moves. It would seem that the consumer's corner is a mere formality. But its design can be safely ranked among the strategic components of the business. Why? Now we'll find out. What is a "Buyer's Corner", requirements for its design, pen alties for its absence - read about all this below.

"Corner": de jure and de facto

The "Corner of the buyer" (or consumer) is most often understood as a small wall stand the size of a standard "Whatman paper", on which documents are attached in one way or another, reflecting the activities of a company that provides services or sells goods. It can also contain papers that reveal the essence of the relationship between sellers (service providers) and customers (buyers), the mutual rights and obligations of both, as well as aspects of reporting to regulatory authorities.

Among the most well-known rules regarding the design of "Consumer Corners" - they mustbe located in the most prominent place in the premises of the company or store. But there are also other standards and requirements. What is the modern "Buyer's Corner" like? What must be placed on it without fail? What threatens a business if it does not properly draw up a "corner"?

Documents of the "corner": law and tradition

The key component that contains the Buyer's Corner is documents.

Immediately, one fact should be noted: there is no term "buyer's corner" in any law. Rather, it is a common and to some extent colloquial name of the format, with the help of which clients of companies receive the necessary information. The laws do not oblige to provide information specifically in the form of a stand, but it is this kind of device that is most popular in Russia. At the same time, regulatory regulation in terms of supplying buyers with all the necessary information is present in the Russian Federation. And it is quite demanding in relation to business.

What should be in the "corner"

In accordance with the norms of the Federal Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights", enterprises are obliged to provide their customers with the information mentioned at the very beginning. That's what the Buyer's Corner is for. What should be on it, based on the requirements of the law? This is information presented in a language understandable to the buyer, which will reflect the following information:

• data about the service provider or the manufacturer of goods (both general and significant within terms of customer interest: for example, when buying furniture, a person may want to know what wood it is made of);
• reflecting information about the rules of trade and the norms specific to the specifics of a particular business.

In practice, meeting these requirements means posting the following information. Moreover, it does not matter at all how the design will look - the buyer's corner, from the point of view of the law, is just a data carrier. The main thing is that it should reflect:

1. Name of the company, its legal address and opening hours (unless, of course, this information is posted somewhere else, for example, at the entrance).
2. If the provision of services or the sale of goods is carried out by an individual entrepreneur, then a photocopy of the certificate of registration of the right to do business received from the Federal Tax Service is required.
3. If the type of activity of the company is subject to licensing (or official accreditation by government agencies), then this fact should be noted on the stands of the "corner". At the same time, copies of permits and information about the organizations that issued them should be placed nearby.
4. Similarly, if certification is required or a declaration of conformity of certain goods sold by the company is required.
5. Current contacts of state bodies supervising the scope of the company.
6. A properly executed complaint book for buyers and customers.
7. Useful from the point of view of the quality of services and significant in terms of protecting their own rights information for customers and buyers. There may be options herea lot of. But the simplest and most common option is to print out the latest version of the Federal Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights".
8. Information about the rules of trade, return, exchange of goods. Price lists, documents reflecting the responsibility of the seller (service provider) to buyers.
9. Emergency phones.
10. Information about groups of citizens who are en titled to benefits and preferences in service. Starting from the right to skip the line for veterans of the Great Patriotic War, people with disabilities and other categories of citizens, and ending with the provision of discounts and special conditions for the provision of services for certain social groups of customers or buyers.

This is what the Buyer's Corner should look like. What should be on it in the first place, we studied. Let's move on to the individual nuances associated with its design. Let's designate aspects that it is undesirable to lose sight of.

The nuances of the design of the "corner"

So, the design. "Corner of the buyer" though a formality, but very significant. First of all, it must be borne in mind that some rules and regulations regarding the regulation of relationships between suppliers (sellers) and consumers (buyers) are formed not by federal, but by regional (or even municipal) authorities. All acts, regardless of the level of origin, may be binding on the company.

Despite the fact that some activities are relatively loosely regulated by Russian legislation (for example, consulting or software development), firms operating in these segments shouldapproach the design of the "corner" with proactive responsibility. By posting, for example, information that the rented premises complies with fire safety standards.

It will be useful to place a "corner" in the place where a chair and a small desk can be attached to the stand. From time to time, but with a certain degree of frequency, customers will read information from the stand and, possibly, make entries in the Book of Complaints. Even for such cases, in modern companies it is customary to provide people with comfort: not just to hand the document in hand, but also to sit down at the table, give a good quality pen and not interfere with writing what the client wishes to reflect in the Book. Another option is not only to provide an opportunity for a person to write a complaint, but also to give him general instructions on how to draw it up, to provide a sample. The buyer's corner, therefore, may cease to be associated with something negative in the client. It is possible, experts say, that a person who is pleasantly surprised by the approach even in such a situation will suddenly change his mind about complaining about the service.

Courtesy is the key to profitability

Some experts have another interesting piece of advice on how to decorate the buyer's corner. It is recommended to make it in a very friendly design, using bright colors, and, if appropriate, epithets like "our dear customer". This will also help to instill positive emotions in a dissatisfied customer.

"Corner of the buyer" - a place that willy-nilly attracts the attention of buyers due to its location (according to the law, as we remember, this should be the most prominent place in the room). Why not use this option as an additional marketing tool? How to make the buyer's corner not only a formality, but also give it a usefulness property? Not a single law prohibits, say, placing advertising booklets around the perimeter of a stand (or even between its individual blocks ("pockets"). You can use the "corner" as a good tool to increase brand awareness by equipping the blocks with company logos.

Requirements for documents

Among the priority documents that should be placed in the corner of the buyer, which should be there in an unconditional order - "Book of complaints". What are the basic rules for its design? According to the laws of the Russian Federation (as well as the recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor), the "Book of Complaints" must be stitched with a thread, and each of its pages must be numbered. The most important point - the document must be certified by the personal signature of the director of the company. Some experts talk about the desirability of placing in the book (even if this information is already somewhere within the "corner") information about the company's hours of operation.

Other documents attached to the corner of the buyer (printouts of laws, trade rules, etc.) can be presented in any form understandable to the client. Some experts talk about the admissibility (but only if we are talking about some minor details) of indicatingweb pages in the form of links or hash tags. As we have already said, the laws do not provide information on how to properly arrange the buyer's corner in terms of appearance. Therefore, in some cases, it is possible to provide information not only with the help of text, but also with diagrams, graphs, pictures.

Business Responsibility

Most likely, a significant part of entrepreneurs neglect this obligation. And sometimes completely unconsciously. The most surprising thing is that in many foreign countries there is no such obligation in relation to businesses. Many foreign entrepreneurs believe, when they first hear about such a thing as "Buyer's Corner", that Russia must not yet have moved from a strict Soviet model of economic control to a full-fledged market with all its inherent freedoms.

What will happen if the company does not equip its premises with "corners"?

In this case, you will have to deal with Rospotrebnadzor. If any of the citizens (or inspectors of the department who happened to be nearby) report there that there is no "corner" in a particular commercial firm, then an order will soon be issued on the need to arrange a stand. Responsibility to government departments may arise, not so much due to the lack of a "consumer corner", but because the entrepreneur or organization forgot to place this or that document there. That is, another real reason for the authorities to pay more attention to the buyer's corner is the content of this element.

Experts note the regular occurrence of precedents when claims against a company were sent by Rospotrebnadzor due to the lack of information of the type that we indicated in paragraph number 7. We noted that, in general, a copy of the Federal Law "On the protection of rights consumers". But in reality, it may turn out that Rospotrebnadzor decides that other information is also needed.

Rospotrebnadzor is authorized to fine

If Rospotrebnadzor does not like your "Buyer's Corner", and the requirements of the department, in turn, are not satisfied, then the authorities will write us a fine. It is possible, experts believe, and a more stringent scenario in the form of bringing a company or individual entrepreneur to administrative responsibility. Cases of litigation between Rospotrebnadzor and entrepreneurs are known.

Court on case

What are the chances in a legal confrontation with the supervisory authorities? Lawyers have conflicting opinions on this issue. On the one hand, the laws of the Russian Federation for the most part have a significant bias in favor of the consumer, and therefore endow state departments with a very wide range of powers, which determines quite a lot of reasons for making claims against firms. In most cases, Rospotrebnadzor is formally right, which means that it will most likely win the case in court. On the other hand, experts note an increase in the number of precedents when arbitration considers a claim in more detail. And guided not only by formalities, but also by common sense.

But nothing can be predicted, and therefore the expertsrecommend businessmen, at least to some extent interacting with individuals, to display the most detailed information related to the field of activity. Therefore, an entrepreneur should study in detail, when planning to draw up a buyer's corner, a list of documents of all possible types related to the type of activity.

Some lawyers recommend that organizations that have reason to fear increased attention from Rospotrebnadzor act according to an interesting scenario. Namely, to take from customers a receipt that they have received all the necessary information in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights". That is, do not bother thinking about how to design the "Customer's Corner" in the best possible way in terms of content. By signing this document, a person confirms the fact of familiarization with the types of information that the law obliges the company to provide. It doesn't matter how the information is obtained - from a stand, from a booklet or, for example, from a website. Then it will be easier for the company to prove its case in the confrontation with supervisory authorities at the court.

Fine limit

Typical value of the fine issued by Rospotrebnadzor, dissatisfied with the absence of a "corner" or any information in it, is relatively small - lawyers usually give a figure of 5 thousand rubles. But it is not recommended to forget that the regulatory agency may well find several reasons to issue an order to a commercial organization. The pen alty in this case is possible according toto each of them.

What deviations from the "typical" pen alty rate can be? What are the "formulas" that Rospotrebnadzor is guided by?

The procedure for calculating the amounts of fines is based on the norms of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (most often, articles 14.8 and 6.3 are taken into consideration). Lawyers explain: in accordance with this legislative source, a pen alty of 20 to 40 thousand rubles can be calculated against a legal entity, and 3-4 thousand against individual employees (or directors)