International Journal of the Humanities, vol.8, no.11, pp.235-256, 2011 (Scopus)
The consumer purchasing process is a complex matter as many internal and external factors have an impact on the purchasing decisions of the consumer. Generally, before purchasing something, the consumers try to find the relevant information and want to use it to make the purchase decision. Traditional sources of information for this evaluative stage include past experience, consumer groups, research institutions, and word-of-mouth. In some cases the consumers experience feelings of dissatisfaction with a purchase experience. Lack of information and education about qualities and prices of products may cause to this situation. In an ideal world, when consumers are dissatisfied they would immediately speak up so firms would have the opportunity to respond immediately by improving the quality of their services. The consumers' complaints and feedbacks can shape, reorganize the market. Complaining and giving feedback about the products are among the responsibilities of the consumers. Several studies have founded that the number of consumers who complain is lower that of those who do not complain. This may be resulted from; consumers might not know to whom to complain, and consumer belief that complaining is an exercise in futility because they will be either ignored or patronized. The consumer needs to be informed about to whom and how they complain when they face problems. In Turkey Consumer Arbitration Committee is one of the authorities where the consumers can appeal to. This study was carried out to determine the need of information and education of consumers who apply for Consumer Arbitration Committee and their evaluation process before purchasing a product. It was conducted with 500 consumers. According to the results most of the consumers stated that "they need consumer education"(female: 94.4%, male: 85.9%), especially about their rights and they want to have information about the price, qualities and brand of the product. © Common Ground, Arzu Şener, Müberra Babaoǧul, Esna Betül Buǧday, All Rights Reserved.