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Consumer's Telegramm European Edition
If you wish to be informed monthly about European consumer news, just subscribe our free newsletter.Consumer's Telegram July - August 2010
Insert of n. 48 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Bolzano - Italy)INTERNET COST
Traps also in Italy now
The phenomenon of cost traps on the internet has been known for years in the German speaking countries. Recently, more and more Italian speaking consumers have reported that they had been entrapped by hidden subscriptions. More than 200 consumers contacted the ECC Bolzano in the last few weeks for this reason. This time, Italian web pages are offering well-known free programmes like Google Earth, Adobe Reader or Open Office. However, the service is not free but for 96 Euro a year. The information about the cost is hidden in the small print, often written light grey and thus very easy to overlook.Consumers who visited such a page, gave in their data and are now getting bills and reminders should not give in. They should ignore the providers' intimidating threats and defend themselves. Sample letters are available on the webpage of the ECC.
BROCHURE
The New Brochure about Travelling
The European Consumer Centre (ECC) has published the brochure "Travelling" with all information about travellers' rights and duties. Who goes on holiday does mostly not think about what to do if the baggage does not appear on the conveyor of the baggage claim area or if the white sandy beach is a dump in reality. Tropical storms, strikes, volcanic ash, booking errors and unforeseeable illnesses show us that unfortunately things do not always go straight. It is important that the consumers are well informed so that they are able to choose consciously from all the offers and to deal with unpleasant situations. The new brochure deals with different topics with an emphasis on areas with a high rate of complaints. The new Brochure is available for free at the ECC Bolzano (Strada del Brennero 3) or you can get it by post if you send stamps for 1,50 Euro to the ECC office. You can also download it on the homepage of the ECC on.The Case of the Month
In June 2009 a German consumer flew from Miami to Rome with a well-known Italian airline. At the arrival she got to know that her baggage had not been transported to Italy. Also later it could not be found anywhere.This was a big damage for the consumer: fortunately she had a list of the content of her suitcases as well as many bills and credit card invoices to prove its value quite well: her lost baggage was worth about 2,600 Euro. For such cases, the EU-Law says that the that the liability of a carrier in case of destruction, loss, damage or delay of baggage is limited to the sum of 1000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for each passenger, a sum equivalent to approximately €1200 today. The consumer knew this and asked a compensation of exactly this sum. However, she got no answer from the airline.After some weeks, the consumer turned to the European Consumer Centre. Also our intervention was not successful at first. Only after several letters did the airline answer to the ECC. "We paid a compensation sum of 600 Euros to the consumer." We do not want to comment if the airline hoped to satisfy the consumer with this sum, following the theory that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. We wrote back to the airline and continued exerting pressure, in the end with success. In June 2010, a year after the accident, the airline agreed to pay another 600 Euros to the consumer. |
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ECC
via Brennero 3
I - 39100 Bolzano
tel.: ++39 0471 980939
fax: ++39 0471 980239