Consumer's Telegram February 2023

Insert of n. 13 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre Italy - Bolzano office)


GUARANTEE RIGHTS

What to do if the Car was Bought Abroad

The digital marketplace for used cars, with its possibilities to compare offers also internationally, plays an increasingly important role and makes buying a car abroad easier and more attractive. The common rules applicable in the single market can also favour the choice of im-porting a vehicle from abroad. For example, the legal guarantee applies throughout the EU and can therefore also be enforced across borders. However, as far as imported cars are concerned, special care must be taken with regard to how precisely the legal warranty applies. Read on the website of the European Consumer Centre (ECC) which important rules of conduct to keep in mind in cases of lack of conformity.

FREQUENTLY RECURRING FRAUDS

Beware of the Tractor Scam!

Already a few years ago, the European Consumer Centre received reports of people who wanted to buy a tractor or other heavy machinery on the internet, but were scammed and lost a lot of money. Now this scam seems to be back again. Scammers often pass themselves off as a real company and set up their own website, which at first glance seems authentic and the offers also look seemingly plausible. Read on the ECC website how to avoid these scams.

PACKAGE TRAVEL

Price Reduction in Case of Lack of Conformity due to Coronavirus measures

The Court of Justice of the European Union recently delivered a judgement (in case C-396/21) concerning package travel in times of Covid-19. Two German travellers started their travel to the Canaries on the 13th March 2020 and experienced the tightening of the Covid containment measures: beaches were closed and a curfew was put in place, with the result that the travellers were only permitted to leave their hotel room to eat. Access to the swimming pools and sunbeds was prohibited and the entertainment programme was cancelled, too. On the 18th March 2020, the two travellers were informed that they should get ready and expect to leave the island at any moment and two days later they had to return back to Germany. The consumers had asked for a refund of 70% of the price, which the package organiser had refused, holding itself not liable for what had happened. The CJEU found however that if a lack of conformity concerning a travel service included in a travel package is due to restrictions that have been imposed at the travel destination to fight the spread of an infectious disease, the traveller is entitled to a price reduction. In this context it is irrelevant whether it is attributable to the organiser, as the directive provides, with regard to entitlement to a price reduction, for strict liability on the part of the organiser.

CASE OF THE MONTH
Among the numerous wedding presents received by an Austrian consumer were four vouchers totalling EUR 1,600 from an Italian furniture shop. The consumer was sure that, just as in Austria, the vouchers had a long validity and wanted to wait for the right moment to use them. Only when she found the item she really liked and wanted to use one of the vouchers to buy it did she realise that written on the back it said it was only valid for one year and had in fact already expired. The consumer therefore sought help from the European Consumer Centre (ECC) Austria, which contacted ECC Italy to obtain information on the legal situation in Italy. The advisors of ECC Italy confirmed the legality of the deadline set by the Italian company, but nevertheless contacted the furniture shop to ask for an extension of validity as a commercial gesture. Subsequently, the seller granted an extension of validity of the voucher, which proves once again that in the many years of activity of the European Consumer Centres Network a mostly positive and good cooperation with companies has developed.