More than half of the consumer complaints reported to the European Consumer Centres Network are related to online shopping. The number one cause for complaints is, one year after another, consumers not receiving goods they have ordered and paid for in advance.
Online purchases don’t always go as planned. The European Consumer Centres Network handled some 8,900 complaints in 2009, with approximately 4,900 of them related to online shopping. A total of 275 of the cases were registered in Finland.
Over 80% of the complaints regarding online shopping are related to the delivery of ordered goods, defective products and illegal terms of contract. Based on the report, the number one problem has for years been that consumers do not receive goods they have ordered and paid for in advance at all, or receive it much later than promised. In other cases, products are delivered on time but they are defective or missing parts. Some online stores also fail to comply with statutory requirements concerning e.g. the right of cancellation.
Cases handled by the Consumer Centres Network include one where a French online seller sent a Lithuanian consumer a defective television and refused to replace it with a non-defective unit . In another case, a British online shop shipped a Hungarian consumer a lawn mower that did not include all the parts it should have.
Consumers reported problems particularly with German online retailers, but those in the UK, France and Luxembourg also featured prominently in the complaints .
The European Consumer Centres Network comprises offices in 27 EU Member States as well as Norway and Iceland. The aim of the network is to increase European consumers’ confidence in the internal market by disseminating information to them concerning their rights and helping them in cross-border disputes..