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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 April 2006
Insert of n. 28 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Italy)TRAVELLING 1
... concerning the Charta of passenger rights
There is another news from the flight sector of the last days: it is the new law-decree (decreto legge) n. 69/2006, published in the "Gazzetta Ufficiale" on 6th March (valid from 21st March 2006 on). The decree introduces "sanctions concerning the violation of the EU-Regulation 261 of 2004 that introduces rules for compensation and assistance of passengers in case of overbooking, cancelling of the flight or prolonged delay".The organ which is designed to control the effective applying of the EU- ordinance 261 of 2004, and in case it is not respected, to apply administrative sanctions, is the national institution of civil aviation (ENAC).
This is another protection for the passengers, who are victims of troubles such as cancelling, delays or overbooking and an invitation for the flight companies to respect the currently valid laws.
TRAVELLING 2
Alitalia fined for overbooking at first instance
A Justice of the peace (Giudice di Pace) has accorded a couple of Ferrara a claim for compensation. Alitalia was condemned to pay 1,200 Euros and the court fees. The judge considered that the denial to let passengers on board even if they have a regular reservation constitutes a violation of their rights (sentence of the justice of peace of Ferrara n. 299/2006).The overbooking consists in selling a superior number of tickets than available by the flight companies. The judge has determined that this very common practice constitutes not fulfilment of the contract by the company and therefore the damage must be compensated.
It is an important step which hopefully will help to grant passengers a major protection in this kind of transport, considering that unfortunately the overbooking represents one of the main reasons of discontent along with cancelling and delays.
INTERNET
Nothing is for free
Sentences like "You are the lucky winner of 1 million Euro chosen among millions of people!", "today for free.." or "… we offer you as a present…" attract many people and easily induce them to act without thinking.It is only possible to win if you have participated in a game: no company offers millions just for kindness;
Online offers which show adds such as "… today for free…" should be considered carefully: in the contract conditions there is often the rest of the sentence "…today for free, from tomorrow on your free test period changes automatically into a two-year-subscription at the price of 7 Euro a month" and the presents are often bound to orders. Often they are included indirectly in the basic price.
Therefore bargain hunters pay attention: what sounds too good, is often too good!
Case of the month
A British consumer has rented a car at the airport of Cagliari for his holiday in Italy. Due to an accident he damaged the bumper and communicated it immediately to the car rental service. Back in London he saw that 1,800 Euro had been deducted from his credit card. This sum of money exceeded three times the costs estimate of a garage in London, which is the concessionaire of the same car brand.Therefore the consumer has asked the Italian EEC for help in this matter. We've written many letters to the car rental service in the name and on behalf of the consumer in which we asked for a refund of the undue money and an exact statement of costs. The refund was quickly promised but only after a long time and insisting via email, the consumer has finally got back 1,000 Euro.
... once more our persistence has proved to be an effective method to achieve the aim.
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