Consumer's Telegram February 2025

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

E-COMMERCE

The disadvantages of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’

The ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) payment method makes it possible to buy a product immediately and then pay for it in instalments, often without interest. However, there are also disadvantages associated with this. First and foremost is the risk of over-indebtedness: The option to defer payments can lead to spending more than one can really afford. A second important point is hidden interest and fees: Even though many BNPL platforms advertise that they do not charge interest, late payments or high commissions can be incurred if payments are delayed. An additional problem is the complicated instalment management: it is easy to lose track of the deadlines and run the risk of being faced with additional costs. In the event of problems with the delivery or return of the goods, as well as defective products, the resolution could be made more difficult as there is a third party involved, the BNPL payment platform, in addition to the shop. More on this on the website of the European Consumer Centre (ECC) Italy.

PRICING

Transparency for special offers

Discounts must be communicated in a transparent way and labelled correctly. A judgement by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of last September (C-330/23) clarifies that the innovations introduced by the so-called Omnibus Directive 2019/2161/EU have also to be applied to special offers in the retail sector. A German supermarket chain had advertised a promotional price as a discount of 23% and used the last practised price before the promotion as the basis for the calculation and not he lowest price in the last 30 days. In that period, however, the goods had already been sold at a lower price, so the discount percentage should have been stated in relation to the lowest price in order to avoid misleading the customer. It is not sufficient to state this lowest price of the last 30 days as mere additional information, which was done in this specific case

PRODUCT SAFETY

Stricter regulations in force

A new regulation (2023/988/EU) on general product safety has been in force in the EU since 13th December. The regulation applies to consumer products placed on the European market, regardless of whether they are sold online or offline, new or used, repaired or refurbished. The regulation expands the term ‘safe product’ and also sets out specific obligations for online marketplaces in order to prevent dangerous products from being sold via digital platforms.
Further information on this topic can be found here.

CASE OF THE MONTH
An Italian consumer purchased a bus ticket online in order to get to the airport from where she wanted to take a long-haul flight to her holiday destination.
However, the day before the journey, she was informed that she had been rebooked onto the next bus due to overbooking. As a result, the consumer would not have been able to catch her flight on time. She called the customer service, who only gave her the option of cancelling the booking and getting the ticket price refunded.
The consumer was hence forced to travel to the airport by car. She faced additional costs for petrol, the motorway toll and parking at the airport during her holiday. On her return, she tried to claim a refund from the coach company, but her claim was refused. The consumer contacted ECC Italy, which forwarded the case to ECC Germany, as the coach company is based in that country. Following the ECC's intervention, the bus company finally agreed to reimburse at least the costs of the alternative transport (fuel and toll).