2017 Clicklaw & Wikibooks Survey Results

The 2017 Clicklaw and Clicklaw Wikibooks website user surveys ran for two months, from late October to late December. Here are some highlights from the survey results:

What stayed constant

  • Demographics – the majority (over 55%) are still people with legal questions, then those who are assisting others.
  • The reasons for visiting – to find legal information, then to find a person who can help.

Highlights for Clicklaw

  • Over a quarter of all respondents to the survey identified as Self-Represented Litigants (SRLs) or were helping a SRL.
  • In hindsight, did Clicklaw increase users’ legal understanding and help them move forward to solutions? Yes, increasingly so. We saw:
    • 13% increase in those who strongly agreed that the information increased their understanding of a legal question or issue, and
    • 5% increase in those who strongly agreed or agreed that the information helped them take next steps.
  • There was a 10% increase in those who strongly agreed or agreed that they were able to find the information quickly and easily.

Highlights for Clicklaw Wikibooks

  • Did people find the info they were looking for in a Wikibook? Increasingly, yes. 4% more people strongly agreed or agreed, and those who disagreed or strongly agreed dropped from almost 19% in 2015, to less than 6% in 2017 – a more than 13% drop.
  • Was Clicklaw Wikibooks easy to use? Overwhelmingly, yes. 78% agree or strongly agree that the website was easy to use – a 7% increase since 2015. Fewer than 2% of users disagreed or strongly disagreed that the site was easy to use – an improvement from the almost 12% of users in 2015 who found the site hard to use.
  • Over 71% agreed or strongly agreed that Clicklaw Wikibooks helped them take next steps.

Comments from Users

There were also some great comments from users. We are promoting these through our social media channels, and I am sharing some of them here:

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Organization of the Month | November 2017

This month, we feature Consumer Protection BC, a Clicklaw contributor.

Consumer Protection BC is a provincial regulator that licenses several sectors (see Infographic below) and offers information and referrals to people in BC.

Meet Laura

Laura Cox is the Manager, Licensing and Information Services at Consumer Protection BC. Her team handles the licensing of all the sectors that Consumer Protection BC oversees, and also offers assistance to consumers.

What has surprised you most about working with your organization?

I joined our organization in 2012. It is surprising to see how many consumer calls and emails we receive which are outside of our mandate. We work really hard to provide consumers with the best possible referral, but in some cases the referral is to a lawyer, or court.

As a regulator, we oversee three different Acts, and many sectors. It was overwhelming to see how much I would need to learn.

It seems like that’s a widely held misconception–that you can help with any consumer issue.

[I think that because of our name] people assume we can help with any consumer issue, but that’s just not the case. We oversee specific laws and can only help when a potential violation of that law has occurred. This is why my team works so hard to ensure we have the right referrals for consumer issues that fall outside of our mandate.

What are some common referrals that you do make?

One of our top referrals is to the Vehicle Sales Authority–they oversee the retail sales of vehicles sold through licensed dealerships.

We also refer a lot of consumers to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Service (CCTS)–they can help consumers who have an issue with a cell phone, landline, cable, TV, or internet provider.

We have a page designated on our new website for our top referrals. To learn more about other agencies who can help consumers within BC visit our referral page here.

Do you have any interesting stories of clients you’ve helped in the past year?

Here’s a story we shared in our annual report (names and some details have been changed to protect privacy):

It was time to get his chimney fixed, so Eddy hired a masonry company to do the repairs. After quite a delay in getting any work done, the masonry company tried to convince Eddy he had a mould problem in his house and they could help. Eddy had a background in the trades and knew there was no mould problem. This was a red flag for him so he decided to cancel the contract and get his deposit back. Something just didn’t feel right. When the business owner stated all deposits were non-refundable, Eddy got nervous. “I’m pushing 80,” says Eddy, “and [the owner] was fighting me on this tooth and nail. At one point, I had to order him off my property.”

That’s when Eddy decided to reach out to Consumer Protection BC to see if they could help. It was determined the business didn’t have all the required content in their contracts and Eddy was within his rights to cancel. Consumer Protection BC’s involvement resulted in a full refund. Eddy stresses the importance of practicing due diligence when hiring someone to do work on your house and to make sure you ask around about the company’s reputation. “Normally I am very careful with these kinds of things,” Eddy says. “But sometimes you get caught off guard. I’m thankful things turned out the way they did.

That’s a great story. What else do you regulate in addition to consumer contracts?

We are responsible for enforcing the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act, and the Motion Picture Act, and the related regulations. Here is a helpful infographic that shows the sectors we license and regulate:

Thank you for sharing with us today, Laura. Last question–what are you most excited about, recently?

Our new website launch is really exciting! On top of this we continue to work on an online portal for our licensees. This will allow them to accomplish more online, which will save them time; they will also be able to make changes and renew their licenses really quickly.

Stay informed with Consumer Protection BC:

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