Consumer's Telegram November 2021

Insert of n. 86 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre Italy - Bolzano office)

EYE2021

How the Rights of European Young Consumers are Protected

Sustainability and digitalisation were the topics at the heart of the European Youth Event (EYE2021) held on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 October in Strasbourg, where thousands of young people from different EU Member States took part. The European Consumer Centre is at their side in relation to many aspects of their lives, providing advice and support: It offers by instance information on EU passenger rights for sustainable means of transport such as trains or long-distance transport by bus, points out that it is forbidden to stream certain content for free, explains that the right of withdrawal for digital content, such as games and software, expires as soon as you access the content. For more information about this topic, see our press release.


SELF-ARRANGED HOLIDAYS

The Price of Flexibility

More and more people prefer to organise their holidays themselves and book flight tickets, rental cars and hotel accommodation with various seperate providers. Not always everything goes smoothly, though. Supposed bargains are not always a good deal on the whole, if you find a good price on booking portals, make sure to check the prices directly on the website of the airline or hotel too, if possible. If the booking on online portals is actually cheaper, consider whether this supposed price saving is worth the sometimes expensive complications that arise if the flight is cancelled. Airlines usually reimburse the intermediary, and the intermediary often charges fees for the reimbursement that are similar to the ticket price. There are also often difficulties with contacting the portals. So be careful, because at the end of the day it's all about enjoying the holiday. You can find further information here.


SOCIAL MEDIA

How to Avoid Frauds

Few people nowadays do not use social networks at all. More and more people are using Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. At the same time, we are receiving more and more reports from people who have fallen into the trap of scammers who use social networks to scam other users. Here are some tips on how to avoid bad experiences: make your account private, so that you can limit messages and visitors to your profile; check the profile of people who write to you, checking whether the photos they post are likely to be theirs and looking up their account history; adopt a system of double authentication for access. You can find more information in our press release.

CASE OF THE MONTH
This time we tell you how two Italian consumers managed to resolve their complaint through the ODR platform, the online portal set up by the European Commission for the resolution of disputes arising from an online purchase (here we explain what it is about). The consumers had both bought electronic devices for more than EUR 700 each from the same online shop. The consumers requested information about the status of their order, initially asking for the product to be delivered, and then exercising their right of withdrawal and requesting a refund. Only after the complaint had been filed through the ODR platform, the company delivered the ordered goods in one case and refunded the price in the other.