ABSTRACT
Discussions in marketing on consumer complaints - especially those of low income consumers -to agencies specialized in protecting them are scarce. This fact is even more alarming in Brazil, since most of the literature on consumer dissatisfaction and complaint behavior is originated from the USA and Europe, cultural contexts that are different from the Brazilian one. To bring light to this gap in the literature, the present research aims to study the complaint process of low income consumers to a consumer protection agency, in order to resolve problems with service providers. For this to be achieved, 27 in depth interviews were conducted with consumers from this social segment that went to the Consumer Defense Nucleus (Núcleo de Defesa do Consumidor – Nudecon), an agency in the Public Defensory (DefensoriaPública) of Rio de Janeiro. In the analysis, it was possible to understand the moments prior to the complaints to the Nudecon, when the interviewees got frustrated with complaints to other consumer protections agencies; the lack of knowledge about the Nudecon, because of the agency’s distancing from society; the discovery of the Nudecon, which occurred by word of mouth from other consumers or, even, by luck; the expectations regarding the service at the Nudecon and the relationship with the public defenders; the experience lived in the Nudecon; and the results of this experience by gaining greater knowledge about their rights. For the final considerations, it is discussed how the Nudecon serves to minimize the asymmetry of power between consumers – especially low income consumers - and companies and how the area of marketing should further discuss suck issues.
Keywords:
Low income consumer; Complaint; Dissatisfaction; consumer defense; Nudecon
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Fonte: Elaborado pelos autores