Shopping over the phone ended in conflict: what is important to know when you are in a situation like this

In late May, Delfi received letters from two readers criticizing the activities of companies that sell various products over the phone.

A reader said that his father, not fully aware of what he was doing, paid € 39.95 for a shipment containing food supplements.

Another taught him that his father-in-law had previously purchased a medal over the phone and is now continuing to receive products he does not remember when he placed the order. The last invoice asks for 146 euros.

The Estonian company DirectMarketing sent food supplements, and the Lithuanian Telemarketing sent the medals. As Delfi discovered, these companies are owned by Remigijus and Renata Dindos.

Due to its activities, the State Service for the Protection of Consumer Rights has received 5 requests.

Money was returned

It didn’t take long for Mr. Dinda to understand why the client was being asked.

“First of all, I would like to inform you that the shipping money paid in error, according to the customer’s son, was immediately returned (the order was placed on May 27) without waiting for the customer to return the shipment and, therefore, Therefore, the dispute was resolved, “he said.

The sole shareholder of DirectMarketing OU added that it had provided the customer’s son with a part of the conversation in which his father agreed to order the product and agreed to have the product delivered by courier.

The person in question, Delfi, confirmed this.

“We do not send shipments to customers who have not ordered them. Such practice is prohibited and would undoubtedly cause many complaints from customers, “added R. Dinda.

According to Natalija Jarmulkovič, Senior Advisor, SCRPA Division of Public and International Relations, the Office has received 4 requests from users regarding OU Direct Marketing activities.

“3 of them have been amicably resolved, with the agreement of the parties to the dispute, and 1 consumer request is currently being processed,” he said.

For her part, Ms. Dinda stated that she receives several complaints from SCRPA every year.

“All these complaints are resolved by contacting the service and always for the benefit of the consumer, refunds or exchange of goods. Our company takes the position that the client is always right and if he has a complaint, we resolve it in his favor. Also, during quarantine, our company voluntarily extended the return time for shipments: instead of 14 days, they can be returned when the quarantine ends, ”he said.

There are misunderstandings

Dindi told Delfi that Telemarketing records all of their conversations and can easily check for situations where people say they have not ordered products.

“We just take a look, we collect the data by phone number and we get the records. We don’t really ship to those who didn’t order, “he said.

R. Dindė said that there are situations when children decide for their parents.

“The parents have ordered, and the children disagree. So such situations arise. We look kindly. Even if it turns out that the person has actually ordered, the customer can still return that item, sometimes we even allow them to stay. free of charge. It happens that there is an older person who has some type of illness. Then the children tell the situation and we solve it, “he said.

The head of telemarketing considered that children can simply disapprove of this way of shopping.

“It seems to them that ordering online is in order, and for an older rural person it’s better to call. He talks, talks and gets the item he needs. I don’t think it’s bad,” said Dinde.

The interlocutor clarified that DirectMarketing OU is one of Telemarketing’s clients.

“We only call those whose consents we have. We’ve been in business for 15 years and there are those consents. There are several official ways. If the customer no longer wants to receive offers, that’s it.” A person also has to say his or her own address. “, said.

According to the data from the Registry of Legal Entities, the shareholders of Telemarketing are R. Dindė, Rita Kuolytė and Tarmo Laus. In 2019, the company received 2.5 million. Income in euros and earned 206 thousand. net profit of EUR.

According to Sodra, on June 3, the company had 148 employees, whose average salary paid on paper in April amounted to 880.39 euros (about 593 euros “on hand”).

SCRPA has received 1 advertising request by Telemarketing. “The company was warned and ordered to stop all consumer-directed advertising,” said Jarmulkovich.

Clear limit

N. Jarmulkovič also said that the Civil Code stipulates that before concluding a contract with the consumer, the merchant must provide the consumer in a clear and understandable way the necessary, correct, complete and non-misleading information about the goods sold and the services provided, the price of the goods and services, the terms of the contract, the withdrawal opportunities, etc., that establish that the burden of proving that the information has been provided to the consumer under this article rests with the merchant.

‘A merchant who does not or does not fulfill his obligation to provide information to the consumer will be responsible for the loss suffered by that consumer. Similar provisions apply to distance contracts.

We note that according to the provisions of the Civil Code, a consumer who receives goods or services not ordered by him is not obliged to pay it. The consumer will not incur any additional costs due to receipt of unsolicited goods or services, and consumer inaction (silence) will not be considered as consent to purchase. The burden of proving that the consumer has expressed a willingness to enter into a consumer contract rests with the merchant.

Please note that if the consumer agrees to enter into a contract remotely (for example, by phone), the merchant is required to confirm the offer to the consumer in a durable medium, and such contract is deemed concluded from the moment the consumer signs the offer or send your written consent. Without the consumer’s written consent, the contract concluded in this manner is invalid, ”said a representative of SCRPA.

In addition, he pointed out that the actions of entrepreneurs after concluding an invalid remote contract, such as the shipment of products or the request for payment, do not comply with professional diligence requirements and can be considered aggressive commercial activities that meet the established conditions. in the Consumer Insurance Law for unfair commercial practices.

“If goods are delivered to the consumer that the consumer has not ordered, the consumer must refuse to accept the goods and not pay for them.

In the event that the consumer has already paid for unsolicited goods, in accordance with the provisions of the Consumer Protection Law, the consumer must first contact the seller in writing and indicate their claim.

The seller must examine the consumer’s request free of charge and, if it disagrees with the consumer’s request, must provide a detailed and reasoned document-based written response to it no later than 14 days from the date of receipt of consumer request.

If the seller does not meet consumer requirements, does not respond within 14 days, or the consumer does not contact the seller, the consumer has the right to request SCRPA for an alternative (out-of-court) resolution of disputes with supporting evidence (copy of the request to the seller, copy of the invoice, a copy of the document confirming the payment of money, etc.), ”said N. Jarmulkovič.

He added that in the event that the seller’s actions reveal a possible unfair or aggressive business practice, SCRPA will initiate an investigation into a possible violation of the Unfair Business Practices for the Consumer Law.

Your data may be requested

Raminta Sinkevičiūtė-Šečkuvienė, Advisor to the Legal Division of the State Data Protection Inspectorate, told Delfi that the General Data Protection Regulation (BDAR) does not prohibit the processing of personal data, but it must be done in accordance with the rules established by the BDAR. and. in accordance with the principles related to the processing of personal data, one of which requires the processing of personal data for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes.

Furthermore, the processing of personal data must be based on at least one of the conditions for the legal processing of personal data, such as the person’s consent; legitimate interests of the controller, etc. In the absence of any of the conditions for the legal processing of personal data and the purpose of the legal processing of personal data specified in the BDAR, personal data cannot be processed.

In cases where it is not clear to a person why personal data is processed, the person may exercise the right granted by BDAR to access their personal data and contact the data controller, in this case DirectMarketing OU, with a request for information on the purposes for which the data is processed. human personal data

We also note that since DirectMarketing OU is established in Estonia, a person who files a complaint and the information necessary for the complaint to the State Data Protection Inspectorate will upload it to the European Union Registry of International Cases and process it. Estonian data protection supervisory authorities, ”he said.