Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Windham is a village located in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is formed from portions of Windham Township, one of the original townships of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 2,806 at the 2000 census. On July 1, 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated 2,723 people resided in the village. In 1942, the US government chose Windham as the site of an army camp for workers at the newly-built Ravenna Arsenal. As a result, Windham experienced the largest increase in population of any municipality in the United States between the 1940 and 1950 censuses: The population increased from 316 residents to 3,946. Windham is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area. Owing to its location, which is slightly closer to Youngstown than Akron and significantly closer to Warren (at 12.8 miles away, even closer to Windham than the county seat of Ravenna), the village also positions itself in relation to cities in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Area. Accordingly, the sole bank in Windham holds membership in the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce.