Consumer advice: November's recommendations

E-commerce

Probably the biggest consumer threat nowadays is e-commerce. 100% of all complaints received at passion 4 customers regarding internet purchases are related to products not being delivered and this is not only true for small local companies selling across the internet but this is happening with products bought from e-bay or Amazon.

Let me share the words of Soren Beck Jensen owner of NotWebDesign, the company who develops and manages passion customers’ website. I had a discussion with Soren about Internet fraud and here are his views. I am purposely not editing the story so that you can appreciate how easy it is to dupe consumers and pocket a lot of money.

“It would be easy for me to scam a lot of people if I wanted to. I could set up let’s say a "Barbie doll" web site for Christmas, get it ranking and offer dolls for half the price and just never ship any. That is what many scammers do, and there is very little you can do to protect yourself if they are not in your country. Using free software I could have a professionally looking site up in a few days and then pay for Google ads for instance to drive extra traffic and seem credible.”

If you still feel comfortable buying on the Internet knowing this, I strongly advise you to verify a couple of basic elements before confirming your order and providing your credit card details.

• Terms & conditions: particularly reimbursement, delivery and return terms.
• Legal terms:  VAT number, company registration number, head office address (no PO box), site hosting information, company owner or founder information.
• Customer service: telephone numbers, email address, office opening times

Whatever you do, do not respond to spam adverts promising you a miracle product at a very cheap price. Spam by definition is fraud. If you are interested in what seems like a legitimate company, make a quick search on Google for any complaints on the company (complaint + company name). This will give you insight into consumer feedback about this company.

With Christmas around the corner, you may be tempted to shop on line. passion 4 customers is keeping track of fraudulent companies. Below is a list of known offenders to avoid:

• Electromust: French site specialised in consumer electronics
• Verdea: Dutch travel agent specialising in Italian holidays. Takes payment and doesn’t book anything!
• Tendance Homme & Tendance Femme: both sites specialise in designer brands and perfume for men and women. This company sells to the UK, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.
• The King Price: French site promoting consumer electronics and PC products.
• Broma Cleanse: health and beauty. American company selling diet products.
• Super Chance 100: French Internet Games Company. Tricks customers into subscribing.
• Interia: French online furniture store

Travel

Many of you have returned very disappointed from holiday and are still waiting for a settlement from the tour operator. Travellers are up against a brick wall when it comes to obtaining gain of cause. The smart way to travel is to be well prepared and aware before it is too late.

Cheap quality: you may experience fewer services than advertised or the quality of the accommodation is far less than you bargained for. Regrettably quite often the reality is if you pay cheap, you get cheap!

• Tip: once you have selected a hotel or a resort from a brochure, Google the name and read up on customer reviews.

Price war: Did you end up paying a lot more than you originally planned? Were you fooled by hidden cost?  Tour operators will lure customers with promotions. Promotions often have special conditions attached to them, which rarely suit travellers’ requirements. So from the promotional price, you end up paying an uplift to meet your prerequisites. The package price is always calculated without airport taxes, insurances, fuel and transfer cost and booking charges to make prices more attractive. Additionally if you opt for the multiple payment option, you will end up paying more.

Once you provide a credit card number, these additional charges will surface on your statement without you necessarily giving your consent. Additional cost can run up as high as 50% of what you anticipated and there is no work around.

• Tip: Booking your holiday through a local and small travel agent may not at first seem as appealing but will save you quality disappointments and having to use your credit card.

Here is an extract from Thomas Cook’s terms and conditions:

The holidays, flights, cruises and prices you may have seen on our website or e-mail, are not live. Although prices and availability are updated very regularly, holidays, flights and cruises are subject to availability and prices can change at any time. When you make a search on our website for a specific holiday, flight or cruise, our website will then check the live availability and price with the tour operator/cruise operator/airline, therefore please allow for changes to occur before your final price is confirmed. Credit card charges may apply. See booking page for full details.
Selected tour operators & airlines may apply fuel supplements to the price of holidays and travel arrangements due to increases in fuel costs.  Where applicable, these additional charges are included in our advertised prices but will be shown separately on your holiday price summary.

Brochure typos: You may end up paying for misprints if you do not carefully scrutinise your booking. In case of brochure mistakes, the travel agent/tour operator is obliged to reimburse you the total amount of the trip, including flights prior to departure. Do check your holiday confirmation against what you purchased. One of our customers booked a cruise with a specific itinerary only to find out that the operator did not serve the specified itinerary. The travel agency was only going to refund the cruise but not the flights.

• Tip: If it is their mistake; they pay for it!

Complaint handling: the big tour operators regrettably take 6-8 weeks to handle complaints. Make sure you obtain a file number once you have submitted your official complaint. All correspondence should be in writing.

• Tip: The standard formula is a 10% reimbursement of the total cost of your trip.