Consumer's Telegram October 2017

Insert of n. 77 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Bolzano - Italy)

HOLIDAY AND TRAVEL

Robbed on holiday: The hotelkeeper's liability
Unfortunately, sometimes it happens that the joy of holidays will be clouded: Wallets, cash or cameras are robbed from the hotel room or racing bikes or skies disappear from the garage of the hotel. Consumers often resign when they get robbed in a hotel and the hotelkeeper tells them that it was not the host's fault but the consumer's fault because he or she did not use the safe or did not close the door properly. In reality, however, the legal situation is different as law is quiet clear in these cases: The hotelkeeper and the traveller may have agreed on an exclusion or limitation of the hotelkeeper's liability in advance - such a declaration is null and void! More about this issue on our homepage.

HOLIDAY AND TRAVEL

"Help! My flight was cancelled!"
The airline is not allowed to leave the passenger to himself or herself at the airport in case of a flight cancellation. Thanks to the Regulation (EU) No 261/2004 on air passengers' rights a passenger is entitled to either reimbursement of the ticket price or an alternative flight to the destination - at the earliest possible opportunity or at a later date at the passenger's convenience. Furthermore, the airline in charge has to provide care and support services (like food, drink, accommodation) in a proper relation to the waiting time. Passengers have also the right of getting a financial compensation if the flight cancellation was not announced in time. You have more questions about your rights as a passenger? On our internetsite you find further information and sample letters.

MULTILEVEL-MARKETING AND PYRAMID SCHEMES

Misleading pyramid scheme OneCoin - Consumer protection centres VSZ and ECC provide sample letter for an attempt to get back your money.
The European Consumer Centre Bolzano (ECC) and its host structure CTCU gave a report to the Italian competition authority in August 2016. Only recently this authority has imposed penalties against ONE LIFE NETWORK LTD, ONE NETWORK SERVICES LTD, Easy Life S.r.l. as well as against the owners of the websites onecoinsuedtirol.it, onecoinitaliaofficial.it, onecoinitalia.com (see ). All consumers affected are invited to download a sample letter from our website.


Case of the month
An environmentally conscious young consumer did not want to dispose two old mobile phones in hazardous waste, but wanted to give them to a Spanish company. This company is namely specialized for the recycling of waste from electrical and electronic equipment. The consumer ordered a courier service that should collect the two mobile phones at the company's costs. In return, the company also hold out the prospect of 40 euros that should be credited via transfer Paypal. Indeed, the mobile phones were collected but the promised money was not transferred. Even though the consumer got in touch with the Spanish company, the problem could not be solved. Only when he informed the European Consumer's Centre - office Bolzano/Bozen and the case was transferred to the colleagues of the ECC Spain, the case could be closed successfully. The consumer received the promised amount of 40,00 euros!