Consumer's Telegram June 2014

Insert of n. 41 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Bolzano - Italy)



Holidays

Troubles with holidays? The ECC helps!

For European consumers booking package holidays, flights and hotel rooms on the Internet is becoming more and more normal. In 2013 5950 consumers contacted the network of European Consumer Centres with a question concerning flight passenger rights. Furthermore, the hotel and catering sector belongs to the ten sectors with the most common complaints. These statistics reflect numbers also at a national level: of the 3078 consumers, who contacted the ECC Bolzano in the year 2013, 36,58% needed help concerning a contract of transport. 13,04% of the complaints were related to rental cars, 7,38% of the services within the leisure sector and 6,00% within the hotel and catering sector.
Consumers may contact the ECC via e-mail (info@euroconsumatori.org) in order to obtain advise from the ECC for free or they may contact the advisors by calling 0471- 980939. Information material is also available online on the web site of the ECC.

Consumer Rights

13-06-2014 – Key date for a small revolution of Consumer Rights

The 13th of June 2014 can nearly be considered as a historical day for European consumers since on that day in all EU-Member States the new consumer rights come into force. Also Italian legislation has implemented the directive on time and has changed some articles of the consumer protection code. Most affected are the sectors e-commerce and door-to-door sales. Subject to change are, for example, the deadlines of withdrawal. The consumer has no longer a period of 10 working days but 14 calendar days to withdraw and the notification does not have to be sent by a registered letter but a clear declaration is enough, for example via e-mail or fax. Furthermore, the company has to put a model of a withdrawal form at the consumer's disposal. If the company does not fulfill these duties or does not inform the consumer about his or her right of withdrawal, the deadline will be extended to one year. You find more information about the new rules on the web site of the ECC.


ECC-Net

Football World Cup in Brazil

The football fever has reached the European Consumer Centres too. The ECC has published a small brochure about the World Cup in Brazil 2014 for all football supporters flying to Brazil. This brochure informs, among other issues, on the most important rights of European Consumers away on travel and is available in 13 languages. All 13 versions are at your disposal on the web site of ECC Belgium.

Case of the month

During the last summer a consumer from Austria took advantage from her holiday at the Italian Adriatic Coast to buy Italian fashion. At home, however, it turned out that one pair of freshly purchased shoes was defective. Subsequently, she sent back the goods with the consent of the shopkeeper and agreed a refund. The money was not refunded and therefore the colleagues from the European Consumer Centre (ECC) Austria asked ECC Italy to deal with this case. The ECC staff in Bolzano did not receive any answer either first but theit sixth sense told them not to give up too soon. In fact, the missing reply could be traced back by the circumstance that this shop, like many others at the sea side, was closed during the autumn and winter months. Promptly, in April everything went like clockwork: A reply came and the consumer got the entire amount refunded and a small, but fine present: a pair of brand-new shoes of the same model is waiting for her in the shop by the sea. Thus, let’s go on holiday!