Consumer's Telegram October 2014
Insert of n. 69 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Bolzano - Italy)
ECC
Record of holiday complaints
The summer 2014 can only be regarded as tepid from a meteorological point of view, whereas in the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Bolzano the phone lines often run hot: In the time period between 20th May and 20th September 2014 the advisors of the ECC helped about 1,100 consumers providing information and support. Especially the issues of air traffic and car rental were susceptible to complaints. Consumers who travel find useful information on the
website of the ECC Bozen and can download many
sample letters for complaints against hotels, tour operators and airline companies. Read more
here.
Passenger rights
New ECC online-brochure
The European legislation protects EU passengers who travel on ships, trains, busses and airplanes. Not only delays or cancellations may happen during a trip, but also the loss or damage of luggage quite often occurs. Good to know that consumers enjoy rights that are valid in every EU-Member State. Thus, these rights are equal for all EU citizens, no matter if the luggage does not arrive at the airport of Prague or if the flight is being cancelled in Paris. In our
brochure in pdf-format you find clearly summarized helpful information about your rights as a passenger in the EU.
Subscription web-traps
Invoice follows raffle – Pay attention to subscription traps in social networks
Anna is 15 years old and like many other young people she uses the social network Facebook to socialize with her friends. She receives an advertisement for a raffle in the form of an invitation to an event and she shows interest, since after all there are 100,000 iPhones to win. Anna follows the instructions: she has to forward the invitation quickly to all her Facebook friends, then she has to select the colour of the desired smartphone and to fill in her personal data in an online form in order to become registered. Anna does not notice any hint that the registration implies a cost. First, she receives a confirmation of registration via e-mail and some days later, follows an invoice via mail at the amout of 35,70 euro for the installation of the account.
Here are some tips of the ECC for young internet users and their parents!
Case of the month
In August 2013 Ms Mariella went on holiday with her friend and stayed in a hotel in France at the Cote d'Azur. At night thieves slipped into their room without breaking windows or doors and stole 500 Euro in cash. The next morning, as soon as Ms Mariella had recovered from the first shock, she reported the incident to the hotel management and made a complaint to the local police. After her holiday she sent a claim for compensation to the hotel, as provided in the international agreement about the liability of the hotel-keeper. The insurance of the hotel rejected the claim because, according to them, they were only liable for goods that had been given to the hotel expressly for safekeeping. Our colleagues of the ECC France explained the insurance that the hotel-keepers were liable for every damage or loss of goods that had been brought in the hotel by the guest. After some letters of intervention our colleagues were successful some days ago: the hotel in France transferred the amount of EUR 500 to Ms Mariella!
