"Consumer protections" - not "Consumer protection laws" - All of the "consumer protections" I have actively used were given to me not by law, but by the credit card company. (some of those are mandated by law, of course.)
Of course, I have been passively protected by consumer protection laws, and yes, I would receive the same passive protections when paying via cash or bitcoin.... but when those laws are violated, it's almost never worth it to bring up a legal case. If I pay cash, and I get screwed, I complain to the vendor. However, if the vendor does not give me satisfaction, it's usually just not worth paying a lawyer.
It /is/ however, often worth it for me to call my credit card and get them to take the charge off.
While the credit card might not get me many (or any) more legal rights, it certainly gives me rather a lot more practical power if I have a dispute with a retailer (vs. using cash or bitcoin)
In the UK part of your protection is the fact that there is a third party involved (your credit card issuer) who has a variety of responsibilities to the consumer over and above the responsibilities of the retailer. In practice this means you get better protection as the money can be taken back from the retailer by a third party with a big stick.
Credit card chargebacks have nothing to do with consumer protection laws. It is just a feature of the credit card payment system (good or bad, depending on point of view).
Here in the UK the credit card company, as a party to an incurred debt, has a legal responsibility to the consumer that encompasses various things like product quality and returns/refunds. If the retailer does not live up to their responsibilities then the CC provider has a legal responsibility to return the money.
This is under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
You get no additional protections regarding quality/returns/refunds when paying by credit card, that you wouldn't have if paying by bitcoin, or cash.
You get the option of pulling the payment back unilaterally, but this is subject to those same consumer protection laws, so the merchant can still come after you if you do so without a valid reason as stipulated by the law.
>> You get no additional protections regarding quality/returns/refunds when paying by credit card, that you wouldn't have if paying by bitcoin, or cash.
I'm sorry, this is just not true here in the UK (which is what I originally said, it's not the same everywhere), you get assurances from another party in case the merchant disappears, goes bust or just finds a way not to play ball.
This goes well beyond chargebacks and can include things like the CC company being on the hook for repair charges etc. if the goods are not up to scratch, long after the original transaction.
If you need further information then try looking up Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. It's all in there and there are loads of consumers' rights guides on the net that will give you the layman's interpretation of the law.
Yes, chargebacks are the usual method a CC company uses in a variety of circumstances, but that doesn't change the validity of my statement - in some places some payment methods will get you a whole load of extra rights compared to BTC or cash.
The Bitcoin scripting language actually does provide a great foundation for payment reversibility and solutions for this do exists. I'm working on one such solution, https://www.bitrated.com/.
Edit: We're about to re-launch Bitrated in about a month, with a new system that's been written from the grounds up. If anyone reading this is interested in seeing what we've been working on and would like to provide some feedback before the public launch, please contact me (email in my profile). </shameless-plug>
Nonsense. Consumer protection laws apply no matter the payment method.