Hi all,
Please tell me what is the difference, in business, between:
a/ client, customer, consumer .
b/ Just in time, just on time.
Thanks.
Van Khanh
a) ‘Client’ and ‘customer’ can by synonyms. A client is someone you do business with or you give a service to: he is one of my best clients. A customer can also be a client, but is more specifically someone who buys in a shop.
A consumer is a person who uses goods or eats food: consumers must be protected against dishonest shopkeepers.
b) ‘In time’ means ‘early enough’: we were in time to see the beginning of the film. ‘On time’ means ‘at the right time’: the train arrived on time.
Hi Conchita and Van Khanh
Just to add the reference to the topic where Alan gave an excellent explanation of the difference in the context of the particular test.
I remember it helped me a lot to catch the difference, when I was doing it.
In time vs. on time
[size=75]http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic1381.html[/size]
I know the original post is some time ago, but it is only an issue for me now. I like the distinction made between customer, client and consumer but it doesn’t really explain the difference. What rights, for example, do I have as a consumer as opposed to a customer? The answer might be part legal and part philosophical. I am a parent; my daughter goes to a school for which I have to pay a fee. Am I client or a customer of the school - I guess, from the definition, a client? What is my daughter - the consumer? What can she expect? Or, another example, I am selling my house through an estate agent (a realtor in the USA). Am I the client of the estate agent? What is the prospective buyer of my property? The estate agent profession (that term probably elevates their status) are frequently derided for being unable to decide where their loyalties lie - so they too have an issue in deciding between client, customer and consumer. If I pay for healthcare for my aged parent, what is my status, what that of my mother? How should the medical staff respond; where does the duty of care lie - yes, with the person in the hospital, but what about the piper who pays for the tune? Using terms like patient or, in the earlier example, pupil, just ducks the issue: how is the boundary defined; where does it lie?