Is that so? In Germany for example, you have a legal right to return anything you purchased via a remote means of communication - so e.g., the internet, or a phone call - free of charge, within two weeks, and it must be simple to do so; if a vendor tries to obfuscate how to cancel a purchase contract, you can simply write them an email.

That’s not true. From mandatory refunds when selling online, to capped credit card fees, to longer warranties, the EU is clearly better for consumer rights. Some US businesses have realized that openly screwing your customers isn’t good business practice, but they’re somewhat of the exception I hear (and a lot of those companies offer the same policies, or better, in the EU, e.g. Costco)

Apple is another good example. Their base warranty is two years in the EU versus one year in the US, and there’s additional protection on top in many EU countries that extends it to the expected life of the product, in some cases as long as 5-6 years.

And again, all of these are backed up by the law, not just a policy that the company can revoke or decide not to enforce.

> Consumer return policies, customer service, etc. tend to be much better in the US than in the EU.

Maybe the ones voluntarily offered by companies, but not the legal ones.

Except every two weeks when he gets a bigger paycheck than most senior UK government positions

This is the result of the US embracing capitalism more than Germany. The market has set minimum expectations, but outliers with other benefits can have an opportunity to thrive until they have an opportunity to meet those minimum expectations.

Although, this is rapidly changing. Places like California are putting in similar regulatory barriers and excessive minimum taxation.