OK, so I'm not interested in a "nanny state" - you know, like Bloomberg's NYC regulating the size of your soft drinks and where you can place cigarettes in the store - but some regulation is necessary. Conservatives and Libertarians will cry about regulation hampering growth in business, stifling innovation, etc., blah, blah. Without regulation though, chemical companies would just dump their waste in the local streams, pay their employees $2 / hr and work you 70 hours without paying overtime. So some regulation is good.
My mind is on a situation wherein a prominent website that sells cheap junk - nomorerack.com if you're curious - has been selling counterfeit Lifeproof cases for iPhones. I have seen countless news stories about flea market sellers getting busted for selling counterfeit DVDs, Louis Vitton purses and the like, so why isn't anything done about this? There are a significant number of complaints to prove this claim's legitimacy, and the company has angered the consumers by being slow or hesitant to respond to refund requests. So who steps in on the side of the consumer in this situation?
Having been caught up in this myself, I wonder if I will find a letter in my mailbox one day, advising me of my inclusion in a class-action lawsuit. Maybe I'll even get a .14 check once it's settled. Once upon a time, I owned and operated a business, and was the victim of a customer using a stolen credit card. Once the actual card holder discovered the charge and filed a complaint with his card, I was immediately treated like a criminal. My account was garnished, my credit card processing was suspended, and there were threats of lawsuits. This was 1 transaction... I can only imagine if I had sold thousands of fake Iphone cases and faced as many irate customers reversing charges. At some point, VISA and Mastercard would be refusing to process my sales - wouldn't they?
Still, nomorerack.com appears to still be humming along, selling their wares and advertising their deals. I wonder if anyone cares anymore.
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