Greek consumers’ cross-border complaints rise considerably
Greek consumers are increasingly voicing their complaints about cross-border transactions in the European Union as data released yesterday showed the number of those grievances rose by 64 percent between 2005 and 2006. Data from Greece’s European Consumer Center (ECC), run by the Development Ministry’s General Consumer Secretariat, showed that 301 complaints were made by consumers in 2006 compared to 183 a year earlier. Just under a third of grudges related to entertainment and culture-related goods, which include items such as stereo equipment, digital cameras, computers and lotteries. Next came reports related to transport services, which included protests about the infringement of airline passenger rights and rental companies trying to dupe their customers. Ten percent of complaints were related to restaurants and hotels. But Greeks aren’t the only ones filing protests. About 17 percent of reports received by the ECC last year came from foreign EU nationals with the majority from Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Cyprus. «This is important for our country, which is a tourist destination, and the fact that a number of these complaints were made against Greek businesses,» the ministry said. Greece’s vital tourism industry contributes more than 30 percent to the country’s economy, both directly and indirectly. About 17 million visitors are expected to Greece this year. Complaints regarding Greek hospitality and related offerings are usually related to excessively high prices charged for low-quality services. The ECC is a European Commission initiative that helps solve consumer disputes arising among residents of member states. With 26 centers across the EU, the service aims to cultivate feelings of security among consumers so they can spend robustly. The 2006 data showed that most reports concerned misleading sales practices while others reported never having received the goods they paid for – «an issue that was common with Internet transactions,» the ministry said. The Development Ministry pointed out that the ECC service mostly intended to shed light on consumer issues. The ECC handled 376 calls for information in 2006, up from 205 in the previous year. «The significant increase in the number of cases being handled by the Development Ministry by using out-of-court methods of settlement… has offered Greek consumers the possibility to access useful ways of securing their rights,» the ministry said. On an EU level, Spanish companies were the most targeted by Greeks. Two in 10 complaints were made against Spanish firms while 13 percent of complaints were against German service or product providers. The ECC claimed a high success rate in terms of settling disputes. Out of the 301 complaints made, 221 cases ended in favor of the customer while another 18 issues are in settlement stage. Apart from being on the receiving end of complaints, the ECC also actively informs consumers of their rights by running marketing campaigns in cooperation with consumer groups, chambers of commerce and local municipalities. [email protected]
