Guild bank missing items - what happened?

Consumer protection is handled differently in the US and EU.

In the US, you have 4 Federal like TILA and several state consumer protection laws like the Wisconsin Law Act. While EU countries do also have “state” law, the EU law applies to them all equally, with slight adjustments in it´s member states.

The biggest difference is, that the entire EU consumer protection law is about forcing companies to give out information about their products to their customers while allowing them to step back from the contract for various reasons.

We are talking about advertising products correctly, fixing issues with a product in time, being able to send back a product within 14 days, providing customer support and so on.

You could argue, that a customer in the EU, must be informed at all times about the whereabouts / status of what they pay money for so that they have a good risk assesment if going to court makes sense, as in the EU you pay your own and the fee´s of the other party if you lose.

The approach in the US is different, there you only pay your own fee´s when you go to court, therefore it is less risky to go to court. (which explains why people sue everyone for everything)

The downside of the US American system is, that the state / government is less protective as consumers could just go to court to get their right if they feel treated wrongly.

It is the usual “freedom of choice” that is so important for many Americans and why it is often called the “American Rule” while the “English Rule” applies to the EU.

To simplify,

the European Union is trying to provide assistance to lower the risk and need to go to court, by forcing companies to share information in advance and while giving the right to step down from a contract without any reason within 14 days / or at a later time if a problem comes up and can not be fixed.

The US approach is about freedom, where going to court plays a major role and is actually encouraged by the existing law. Therefore, companies have less duties and can make their own rules, while the consumer has the free choice of still buying the product or simply going to court, if unhappy with something.

This is a very simplified explanation and may explain why the EU representatives are more active. That being said, I would not rule out, that the a CM in EU has different tasks than one in the US, so maybe there is just nobody to respond to us, which again, may be, because the law isn´t as strict. :sweat_smile:

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