Experiences & complaints of e-consumers

Edith Appelmans – European Consumer Centre Belgium

A European network for consumers

• Project of the European Commission (DG Sanco)• To promote consumer confidence in the Internal

Market• How:

Through solving consumer complaintsThrough information provision and education

• Subsidized by European Commission (50%) and by the Member States (50%)

• ECC Belgium exists since October 2001

ECC-Net statistics 2011

• ECC-Net handled 70 207 demands from consumers in 2011 :

• 28 108 information requests

• 42 099 complaints

Complaints from e-consumers

• cross-border consumers

• contacting ECC-Net

• purchasing service or product online:56,6%

E-consumers complaints per type ECC Belgium

• ECC Belgium received 1822 complaints (55%) from e-consumers in 2011

E-consumers complaints per sector ECC Belgium

Online cross-border mystery shopping of ECC-Net

• 18 ECC’s puchased and returned 20 products between €50 and €150 in 17 other EU-states in Jan-March 2011

• Analysis of information on websites, of purchase procedure, return procedure and reimbursement

• Positive results for pre-contractual information:– Name easy to find (90%)– Geografical address (86%)– E-mail address (80%)

• but: – no information on delivery time (26%) or delivery costs (7%)– Only 82% mentions right of withdrawal & in 20% info is false

• Delivery: 62 % in the week after payment, 89% in 2 weeks after payment. Mean: 8 days between payment and delivery

• Reimbursement: 46% in 7 to 14 days after receiving returned products, 90 % in 30 days. 10 % not reimbursed

• 57% did not reimbursed delivery costs

Only 17 % of the websites displayed a trustmark (52 websites)

New ECC-Net report to be published in October 2012

The last 4 years the key categories, given rise to most complaints, have remained the same

ECC-Net workshop on fraud in 2012

• ECC-Net will present its report

• prevention is the best way to avoid consumers to be trapped

• Brochure ECC Belgium

More info?

European Consumer Centre Belgium

www.eccbelgium.be www.cecbelgique.be

www.eccbelgie.be