Success Stories

Problematic car rental practices

A car rental company charges unjustified costs for late pickup of a rental car. Is the consumer entitled to reimbursement?

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For his summer holidays in the Strasbourg area, a German consumer booked a rental car with a major global car rental company’s local branch through a travel agent. He intended to pick up the car on Saturday, 3 August 2019 after 5pm — outside the rental office's opening hours. Fortunately, the company offered a service for late pickup at an extra fee of € 50. The consumer informed the company that he would collect the car at 7pm on the first day of the reservation, booked a car rental for 8 days, and paid a total of € 362.93. All of this was confirmed in writing.



Upon arrival, the consumer learned he could not pick up the car at 7pm, as agreed. He called the rental company. They were unable to help — they told him the office had already closed for the day. The consumer had to take a taxi to the hotel he had booked outside Strasbourg to avoid missing his late check-in. The next day, he picked up the car and requested that the extra charge for late pickup be reimbursed. The company refused this request, even though the consumer had not used the service. Both the travel agent and the car rental company failed to reimburse him, so he contacted his local ECC. They contacted the car rental company, informed the staff of their obligations, and asked them to reimburse the consumer an amount of €135, which included the late pickup charge and the expenses incurred for making alternative arrangements. The company immediately confirmed the reimbursement.

Right of withdrawal

A dating site demands approximately 70% of the annual fee after the consumer withdraws from the contract within the 14-day withdrawal period. Will the consumer get a refund? 

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An Italian consumer signed up for a paid premium membership on a German online single platform. She was supposed to pay 40 euros a month for a year. Within the 14-day withdrawal period, she decided to withdraw from the contract. The platform operator demanded 323 euros (approximately 70% of the annual fee) — a so-called compensation for partial use, even though the consumer had hardly used the service at all. As the consumer was unable to reach an agreement with the trader, she contacted ECC Italy. ECC Italy  told the consumer the European Court of Justice ruled on this very issue at the end of 2020, stating that the calculation of this compensation must be in proportion to the period during which the service was used. Our colleagues at ECC Germany succeeded in enforcing this principle on the trader: the entire claim (323 euros) was discontinued.

Refund vs voucher 

An expensive handbag purchased online turns out to be faulty. Is the consumer entitled to a cash refund or does she have to accept a voucher?

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While on holiday in Italy, a Belgian consumer bought a handbag from a well-known fashion company’s shop. Unfortunately, the shoulder strap broke after a mere four months. The consumer decided to report the damage. As the shop could only be contacted by phone, the consumer reported the issue directly to the company’s website. The company immediately offered her an online voucher for the purchase price of the bag. But the consumer refused to accept the voucher, because she had bought the bag at a discounted price and was concerned she would not find a similar bag at the same price.

ECC Italy called the shop where the consumer had bought the bag. The shop reiterated it would not refund the customer. But ECC Italy did not give up: it pointed out to the shop that legislation on consumer guarantees includes the obligation to offer refunds under certain circumstances. Subsequently, the shop made a swift refund and offered a full apology.

Empty promises

A consumer fails to receive a substantial online order. Will she get a full refund?

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A British consumer bought a set of garden furniture from a Spanish company online, paying £364. Based on the information the company had provided, she expected her order to be delivered within 10 days. After a long delay, the consumer contacted the business, which ultimately confirmed it would not be able to fulfil the order. When the consumer asked for a refund, the company agreed to process it within 2 weeks — yet it failed to do so.

The consumer contacted her local European Consumer Centre to ask for assistance in exercising her rights. First, the ECC advised her of her rights and explained what she could expect based on the Consumer Rights Directive on distance selling. It also told her the ECC Network would contact the Spanish business to try and speed up the refund process. Armed with reliable information on her rights and confident that she would get the support she needed, the consumer pleaded her case to the Spanish shop again. The result: the company refunded her in full. Later, the consumer told us she would not have been able to secure a refund if she had not contacted her local ECC.

Unfair terms

A concert is cancelled but the ticket seller does not inform customers of the deadline to claim a refund. Will they get their money back?

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A Slovenian consumer paid approximately €300 for three tickets to an Andrea Bocelli concert scheduled in June 2019. He bought the tickets through an Italian ticket platform . The concert was cancelled two hours before the performance due to bad weather. It was postponed for two days. However, the ticket payment terms stated that the concert would be rescheduled for the following evening in the case of bad weather.

The day after the new rescheduled date, the ticket seller sent a refund offer to online customers without indicating a time limit for accepting it. Later, when the consumer tried to claim his refund, he couldn’t do so. The system indicated he should have done this in early August at the latest — which the consumer had not been informed about until after the fact.

The consumer asked assistance from ECC Slovenia — which pursued the case through ECC Italy, where the ticket seller  is based. ECC Italy pointed out to the ticket seller that this particular consumer was not provided with pre-contractual information regarding the alternative event date and the time limit for refund requests. The ticket seller looked into the ticket terms and reimbursed the ticket price minus a € 50 refund processing fee.

Excessive flight delays

A consumer’s flight gets cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions. How long does he have to wait for a refund?

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A consumer booked flights from London to Beijing via Warsaw with a Polish Airline. He paid a total of £792.92. The flights were cancelled, and the passenger submitted his refund request. The airline let him know it would pay a refund in three months.

But after three months, he had not received a refund. He approached the UK European Consumer Centre, which provided him with guidance on his consumer rights and the airline’s obligations. Our former office in the UK  also asked for supporting documentation on his flights and subsequent cancellations, so his case could be pursued with the help of ECC Poland, where the airline is based.

The consumer submitted his documents the same day, and the case was forwarded to ECC Poland. Our colleagues in ECC Poland immediately contacted the Polish airlines. The airline advised that a refund for the cancelled flights had just been processed. We confirmed the refund with the consumer, and the case was closed satisfactorily.

Accommodation services

After a consumer booked a hotel with a 50% price reduction, he got notified that there had been an error in the price during the booking process. Does the consumer have to pay full price for the accommodation? 

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A Czech consumer was looking for a hotel accommodation in Italy and accepted an online offer that included a 50% price reduction. The offer was published on the website of a company that manages several hotels in Italy. The consumer booked an accommodation in a 3-star hotel with half board, paying 1086.27 euros. 

After a few weeks, the company let her know there had been an error in the price, and it was not possible to offer her these conditions. So, the company offered her a different accommodation with fewer stars that would only provide breakfast. If the consumer preferred to book under the original conditions, she would have to pay double the original amount (2,172.54 euros).

The consumer could not prove she had booked a special offer, because she had not saved a screenshot of the page. Therefore, she requested the ECC-Net’s assistance. ECC Italy intervened and solved the case, pointing out that the contract had been concluded through confirmation of the booking — under the conditions included in the booking. After a long negotiation, the consumer could spent her holidays in the hotel she had booked — under the original conditions.

Undelivered goods

A German seller refuses to give a refund after non-delivery of flowers. Will the consumer get his money back? 

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For Valentine’s Day, a consumer from Italy ordered flowers for his girlfriend from a German website. The flowers were not delivered and the company refused to give a refund, claiming the address provided was incorrect. Next time, the company said, the consumer should provide his phone number so the company could contact him. The consumer was quite annoyed because he had entered the correct address when placing the order, and the phone number was not missing, either. He posted a public complaint on an Internet portal — but to no avail. So, he turned to ECC Italy, which forwarded the case to ECC Germany. To prove how easy it is to find the address, the consumer included a screenshot of an online map service as well as photos of the entrance of the house and the doorbell with the recipient’s name on it. These efforts bore fruit: after ECC Germany intervened, the flower delivery service was understanding of the situation and reimbursed the amount paid.

Flight gift voucher

A flight gift voucher expires. Will the consumer be able to book a flight after the expiration date? 

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In December 2019, an Italian consumer purchased a flight gift voucher for her mother on an Irish carrier’s website. The voucher — which was valid for one year — was redeemed, but unfortunately the flights were cancelled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Therefore, the consumer submitted a refund application to the trader in March 2020. In August 2020, the airline finally let the consumer know the refund request was handled: the trader explained the booking was paid using a gift voucher, so the voucher was reactivated and could be redeemed again. This time, the trader did not mention anything regarding the voucher’s expiration date.

In early 2021, the consumer tried to redeem the voucher and found it was impossible. The voucher had expired in December 2020, as per the terms and conditions of the original gift voucher. The consumer complained to the airline to no avail.

Therefore, the consumer requested the ECC-Net’s assistance. ECC Italy and ECC Ireland handled the case. Upon intervention of the Irish ECC, the airline offered a new gift voucher to the consumer in August 2021, which would be valid until August 2022. She happily accepted this voucher!

Commercial gesture

A visit to the Colosseum gets cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions. Before the group of six friends were able to rebook the trip, one of them passed away. Will they get a full refund?

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When organising a trip to Italy, a consumer purchased six tickets to visit the Colosseum with her family and friends. But due to the pandemic, the group could not travel. The seller issued a voucher so they could take the trip at a later date. After several months, consumer's brother, with whom she had planned to travel, died. Due to this loss, the consumer could no longer go through with the original plan, so she decided not to travel to Italy at all. When she asked for a refund, she received no answer. ECC-Net intervened, after which the seller refunded the six tickets.