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Check mate Chaser

Angry customers rejoice, The Chaser team are here to rail against bad service across the country.

7choWhen they finished The War on Everything in 2009, Chaser team member Julian Morrow put an idea on the table for a stand-alone consumer affairs show.

It was on-going grief as a customer that has led to a new 10 part series, The Checkout, a co-production between ABC TV, Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder and Giant Dwarf.

“I think there is a decade’s worth of amusement in The Chaser office from the other guys seeing me crack the shits with various service providers, usually in the telecommunications and IT industries. Some people would say I’ve been waiting my whole life to do a show like this,” he admits.

“I get very frustrated at times by poor service.

“I remember watching The Investigators from the mid-80s to mid-90s and it was a pioneering consumer affairs show. It’s kind of like the ABC has vacated the space since then.”

Joined by Craig Reucassel, Hungry Beast’s Kirsten Drysdale and Kate Browne from Choice magazine, the series will tackle issues that face consumers, including being taken advantage of, manipulated and ripped off.

Morrow says Choice is not a producer of the programme, and the scripts are generated and / or edited by the show’s production team.

Regular segments will include tips for changing consumer behaviour based on consumer psychology; a Brand Power style infommercial that showcases the way marketers play on parental guilt; showing photographed products as they look in real life; and advice from consumer advocates and researchers.

However the show won’t simply be a Gruen-style look at consumer issues.

Gruen is a small number of experts discussing the issues on a panel. But I’m calling this ‘satirical consumer affairs.’ It’s more magazine / story based and segment based.

“It’s more about the products, not the strategy behind the sales. What does this product do? What do they say it does? Do those things square up? Can you get your money back if you’re unhappy? It’s designed to be an engaging tasting plate to the nuts and bolts practicality of consumer affairs.”

But don’t our 6:30 shows already tackle consumer issues on a nightly basis -defending the little guy with the whopping phone bill or being ripped off by shonky salespeople?

“I don’t see us as being in competition on that sort of stuff. There are times when you can see a hypocrisy or perhaps a commercial interest behind the way they cover consumer affairs. It does sometimes align with who the advertiser on the network is,” Morrow insists.

“But as far as I’m concerned, the more discussion of consumer affairs the merrier.”

The first episode promises stories on the ‘complimentary medicine industry’ in Australia’; a ‘Buy Now, Pay Forever’ segment on low-price goods that lock you in; and car services and how they comply with Australian consumer law.

The show is also asking disgruntled consumers to send in their complaints, tips and rumours.

“We’re encouraging consumers in Australia to record little video gripes, kind of in the same way people ask questions on Q & A,” Morrow explains.

“It’s about mixing new media with old media, such as television, to get a better deal for consumers.”

But being a by-product of The Chaser, surely there will also be an expectation to be amusing? It can’t all be foot-in-door journalism exposing shonky sales people?

“We’re trying to convey information which is engaging. If something is just a pure joke, it probably won’t find its way into The Checkout. There has to be, even remotely, some sort of consumer affairs rationale to the content,” he says.

“It will probably be clown-foot-in-door rather than Mike Munro jackboot in the door. But where we can make a point about cynical marketing or over-charging or conduct that is not in consumer’s interests and we can make that point directly to the executive, CEOs or board members of companies, then we’ll be looking for every opportunity to do so.

“Unfortunately we find that our names are on plenty of doors these days but not on the admin lists -so sometimes it’s pretty hard to get the foot in.”

The Checkout airs 8pm Thursday March 21 on ABC1.

11 Responses

  1. @Kirk, I agree. Customers think they know everything and are always right. The old retail saying “the customer is always right” needs to go. I’ve been complained about by customers numerous times because I refuse to give them further discount and even lt them off 5c because they dont have enough (and my manager always supports my decision). Stores aren’t a charity.

    I do agree, however, that many places need to train their staff with the knowledge of their products and stick to stores policies. It’s like at Coles when you cant find a item and the staff member just tells you what isle and their policy is “if you can’t find it, we’ll find it for you”.

  2. I love the idea of this show. Thank you. Also I used to love The Investigators.

    OK this might be because of the eight or so day heatwave in Victoria and a lack of sleep. But is there a reason for the watermelon in the ad? Does someone like watermelons? Was it disgusting after the shoot? I liked the randomness of it I’ll admit.

  3. As a sales assistant we get a lot of abuse, most of which is undeserved. But many customers think they’re always in the right or want a bigger discount, which is just ridiculous, especially if its already on sale! Customers are becoming too cocky IMHO. And in the media, news stories are often slanted based on the age-old adage “the customer is always right” – wrong, the customer just likes to think they’re right! Shame they’re only gonna show one side to the story.

  4. The great petrol rip off……once you strip out the tax people pay on petrol and then do a comparison with other countries (with the tax element taken out) we are getting absolotely shafted…pls add this to the list guys

  5. Hopefully they will address the big banks that are basically robbing us of interest rate cuts and pretending they have higher funding costs (which no one believes) and the banks are making record breaking profits while people and businesses are l going down the sink hole. And the government is sitting on their hands…. I think that is the biggest consumer issue out there.

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