The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers.
Every Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity reliant on trained volunteers and funds to provide these vital services for local communities.
Check out your consumer rights before you bag a bargain in Europe this summer |
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04-08-2005 With the holidays fast approaching, Euroconsumer, Citizens Advice’s cross-border consumer help centre, has launched a new online shopping guide to encourage people to shop with confidence in the European market place this summer. Citizens Advice - the problem solving charity - runs the UK Office of the European Consumer Centre (UK-ECC), which helps people resolve problems related to goods and services bought cross-border in Europe. The internet shopping guide has been launched in response to a rise in the number of shoppers seeking help from the UK-ECC after buying goods or services from another EU country. It covers all 25 European Union countries including Cyprus and Malta. Although more legislation is becoming similar across Europe, many people who purchase goods or services abroad do not realise that their rights may differ depending on where they bought the goods. The UK-ECC deals with hundreds of enquiries from people who need information on their rights under local consumer law and help in resolving problems. The shopping guide, available at The UK ECC sees many cases where people are unsure about what their rights are and therefore what they can ask a trader to do to put a problem right. In the UK people may be entitled to a refund if goods are faulty and think that this applies in other EU countries, whereas in most EU countries people are in the first instance entitled to an exchange or repair. The shopping guide clearly illustrates how the law can differ across Europe. For example in France if the price tag is incorrect the customer can insist on getting the item for the displayed price. If there are two different prices on one item, the consumer can ask to pay the lower one, except if this price is obviously out of proportion to the real value of the product. In other countries such as Portugal and the UK, customers cannot insist on getting the item for the same price as indicated on the price tag. Cases dealt with by the UK-ECC include: A man who bought a pair of jeans in a sale whilst on holiday in Amsterdam. On closer inspection, he found that one of the zips was ripped. He contacted the UK ECC as he felt that he was entitled to a full refund and the shop was refusing to provide any assistance. The UK ECC contacted the shop pointing out that sales items were protected under European consumer law and so he was entitled to a repair or a replacement. As a result the Dutch trader sent him a replacement pair of jeans. A woman who contacted the UK ECC recently to ask about the rules on levels of VAT in Europe as she wanted to check what prices she should be paying. The UK ECC linked her to the internet Shopping Guide, which lists VAT rates for each EU country. A man who bought a DVD player via the Internet from a company in France. When it arrived he found that it was faulty. He contacted the trader and was told that he should have contacted the manufacturer within the first 7 days after making the purchase to have any rights. The UK ECC was able to advise him that under new European legislation people can now ask the seller to replace or repair the goods free of charge if they are faulty. If this is done within six months of receiving the goods and it is reasonable to expect them to have lasted longer than they have done, it will be assumed that the problem existed when the goods were purchased, unless the seller could prove otherwise. UK European Consumer Manager Ruth Bamford said:
The European Consumer Centre can also refer some consumer queries to an alternative dispute resolution body if they cannot be resolved after negotiating directly with the trader. The ECC network has an office in most EU countries. In the UK, it is jointly funded by the DTI and the European Commission and can be contacted by emailing euroconsumer@citizensadvice.org.uk, visiting www.euroconsumer.org.uk, by writing to UK ECC, PO Box 3308, Wolverhampton, WV10 9ZS or by visiting a local Citizens Advice Bureau. Notes to editors on Citizens Advice
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