Consumer's Telegram May 2017

Insert of n. 38 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Bolzano - Italy)

E-COMMERCE

European Consumer Centre prevented consumer from being ripped off by fraudsters of 90.000 euros
A young South Tyrolean had longed for such an ultramodern and exclusive electric car for a long time. Eventually, he found a really good bargain on the internet: He should pay 89.000 euros for his dream car which usually would be more expensive. The car dealer tried to close the business quickly and sent the consumer a sales contract. Before signing the contract, the consumer made a decisive phone call: He dialled the number of the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Bolzano. There the consultants agreed immediately: This case will probably be a typical online fraud attempt, according to the motto "too good to be true". Such scam tactics are very popular: strikingly reasonable prices, cars one cannot inspect before the purchase and that are parked in any different country except the one of the seller, insecure means of payment, several spelling mistakes in correspondence, internetsites that have only been installed recently. You will find more about this issue on our homepage.

HOLIDAY AND TRAVEL

Flight missed because of long queue at security checkpoint?
German court condemns airport to compensation
Some passengeres have already been annoyed about long waiting times at security checkpoints at the airport. Recently, the German county court Erding has decided in a published judgement that the airport is obliged to pay when passengers miss their flight because of long waiting times at the security checkpoint (Az.: 8 C 1143/16). The court justified its decision claiming that the airport needs to organise its security check in a way that makes it possible for the passengers to arrive at the gate in time. The concern of the judgement proceedings was a German family that checked in at the airport Munich at 12:22 p.m. and missed its departure to Istanbul at 13:40 p.m. because of a long queue. The county court condemned the airport to pay damages at the rate of 80 per cent of the flight amendments amounting to 613,96 euros. You will find more information under News on our homepage.

LIVING ABROAD

Studying and living in France
So, you want to live in France for some time? You want to study there, complete a traineeship or a training course? Then you should profit from an online guidebook of the Centre for European Consumer's Protection Germany when preparing your stay. A guideline free of charge answers all the questions that arise before, during and after your stay in France. The Centre for European Consumer's Protection makes a further remarkable contribution to promote cross-border mobility of young people and supports them to overcome everyday challenges in the neighbouring country with this guideline.


Case of the month
ECC-Czech Republic forwarded us a case asking for examining an Italian onlineportal. A Czech consumer had ordered on this site a pair of shoes, but did not receive it. The website seemed to be a bit suspicious to the consultants of ECC Bolzano because some important data about the company were not accessible, for example, information about the seller and about consumer service. However, the so called "cookies" were translated literally with the term "accept bisquits" and this was quite funny. An automatic translation programme was presumably used to create the Italian site and make it seem authentic. All these findings were reported to the ECC in Prague. The consumer eventually received her shoes, though, not from Italy but a fake product from China.
You will find more advice on our homepage.