NewsWhore
06-29-2006, 03:10 PM
Article 1937 of the Civil Code states that stores have the obligation to watch over vehicles that use their parking lots. Nevertheless, stores instead regularly place signs saying they are not responsible for the vehicles or for any articles left inside them. Clave newspaper reports that on average, five vehicles are stolen from commercial parking lots every month. And on average, the stores only accept responsibility in one out of ten cases. This is the case because Dominicans tend not to bother. "Dominicans don't complain. Often because they are scared, or embarrassed, but mostly because of the ingrained belief that no claim prospers, which is becoming less true every day," Alfonsino Cuesta, of the Fundacion por los Derechos del Consumidor, the consumer rights foundation (Fundecom) told Clave. She explains that in addition to the Civil Code, Law 358-05 requires stores to watch over the vehicles.
"Businesses know that their conduct is irregular. They know that they are failing to comply with the law, but the low level of complaints is an incentive to maintain their stance," explains Alfonsina Cuesta. Cuesta says that the few complaints that are made have come from foreigners or Dominicans who have lived abroad.
This may be changing. Cuesta tells of the case of Vivian de Marchena, whose car was stolen from Multicentro Churchill and in compensation was offered the public car fare from the store so she could get to the Police to make her report. She carried out a discrediting campaign by e-mail and walks among friends in the Mirador. "In the end they had to reimburse me for my vehicle," Marchena told Clave. "That taught me that one has to stand up for one's rights."
Fundecom would like more consumers to stand up for their rights. Businesses are now slowly changing, stepping up security in their parking lots as a trickle of consumers press their cases.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#13)
"Businesses know that their conduct is irregular. They know that they are failing to comply with the law, but the low level of complaints is an incentive to maintain their stance," explains Alfonsina Cuesta. Cuesta says that the few complaints that are made have come from foreigners or Dominicans who have lived abroad.
This may be changing. Cuesta tells of the case of Vivian de Marchena, whose car was stolen from Multicentro Churchill and in compensation was offered the public car fare from the store so she could get to the Police to make her report. She carried out a discrediting campaign by e-mail and walks among friends in the Mirador. "In the end they had to reimburse me for my vehicle," Marchena told Clave. "That taught me that one has to stand up for one's rights."
Fundecom would like more consumers to stand up for their rights. Businesses are now slowly changing, stepping up security in their parking lots as a trickle of consumers press their cases.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#13)