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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 October 2006
Insert of n. 63 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre, Bolzano - Italy)E-COMMERCE
Bids at Online-Auctions are binding
Online auctions are to become more and more popular as sometimes you can really make a good bargain. However, there is a good advice for all people who like buying at online auctions: think before clicking too quickly, because your bid at the auction is binding! This is regulated in the conditions of online auctions which you accept when you register for the online market. In the conditions of E-bay, the best known online auction place, for instance, you can read: ‘Bid only if you really want to buy. If the object goes to you, you are obliged to fulfill the purchase. Acting against this rule violates the user conditions.‘And be careful: for auctions there exists no right of withdrawal from the contract like the one defined by the consumer protection laws; the Italian ‘Codice del Consumo’ (Consumer Code) explicitly excludes online (and other) auctions!FOREIGN LOTTERIES
Only paying makes the contract come into force
There are more and more reports from consumers who are contacted by telephone by foreign ticket sellers and asked to take part in the corresponding lottery. Just to speak clearly: According to the office for autonomous administration of state monopols (Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato) foreign lotteries can only operate in Italy if they have a regular registration and license to do so.A useful hint for all consumers who have already received a certificate lottery ticket: according to German right regarding lotteries the contract can only enter in force after payment (‘Eine vertragliche Bindung – Spielvertrag - entsteht erst mit rechtzeitiger Bezahlung des Loses“ you can read on the homepage of a lottery company) This means: You are not obliged to anything before having paid for the ticket!CONSUMER EDUCATION
www.dolceta.eu
Dolceta is a project created by the European Commission whose aim is the online education of grown-up consumers. Dolceta consists of two sections:- Consumer Rights
- Financial ServicesConsumer Rights: With the help of instruction units the consumer should gain an overview of consumer rights. The units consist of texts, exercises for better understanding, examples, links to other sources of information. The units have three different levels
1. Level for basic knowledge
2. Level for detailled information
3. Level for special information
The eight issues dealt with are the contract of purchase, quotation of prices, telemarket, advertising, security of products, quarrel settlement and EU single market.Financial Services: This sections consists of 6 instruction units concerning fincancial services in Italy and Europe. The units consist of texts, exercises for better understanding and examples. These units have three different levels, too. The issues are budgetting, consumer credits, credits for real estates, the current account, money investment and means of payment (www.dolceta.eu).
THE CASE OF THE MONTH
This time we will have a closer look at a case of ‘Overbooking’: ‘Overbooking’ means that you are denied a seat in the plane in spite of regular booking and puncutal appearance at the airport. The denial of transport resulted in a number of disadvantages and additional costs for the passengers. So the passengers wrote a letter of complaint to the travel agency and the air carrier and asked for compensation. The answer they got was that neither the travel agency nor the air carrier were exclusively responsible for the incident: so they did not get any refund for the additional expenses nor any compensation as defined in EU Regulation (EC) No 261/04. Only after another letter by our Consumer Center the passengers got the compensation. Unfortunately these compensations are seldom paid by the air carriers, although they are defined by law in favour fo the consumers. However, this time we were successful. |
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