Product Returns

A new study shows that fifty percent of returns happen because products are difficult to use or the directions accompanying the product are difficult to understand:

"Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can't figure out how to operate the devices, a scientist said on Monday.  Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls," Elke den Ouden found in her thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands."

If products are being returned because they are difficult to use, but they are not technically “broken,” are there any implications for contract law?  Personally, I’m still unable to program my VCR.

The full story can be found here.

[Miriam Cherry]