• Over 475,000 advice, 52,000 interventions with entrepreneurs, legal assistance in nearly 4,000 cases - these are the effects of consumer ombudsmen’s operations in 2018.
• The number of complaints about tourist and health services has increased significantly.
• There are still differences in the level of consumer protection in various parts of the country.

Do you have a problem with a product or service complaint and need support in a dispute with an entrepreneur? Free, professional assistance is within reach – in your city or district. This assistance is provided by consumer ombudsmen. There are 372 of them throughout the country. UOKiK has just summarized their operations in 2018. For the first time, it also sent ombudsman reports to district governors (starosta) to whom ombudsmen are subordinate.

Consumer ombudsmen are very important. They are like general practitioners in consumer matters: they diagnose a problem, give advice, undertake intervention with an entrepreneur, assists in court proceedings. Many of them also take preventive measures, namely they educate consumers so that they are aware of their rights and know how to avoid traps. We want ombudsmen to be within reach of residents and offer them the highest level of protection. This is often the case. Unfortunately, there are still regions where ombudsmen work part-time for a variety of employers or perform other functions, says Marek Niechciał, President of UOKiK.

The reports show that in 2018 consumer assistance was most easily available in the district of Pyrzyce in the Province of West Pomerania (one full-time ombudsman per 20,000 residents), in Konin (one full-time ombudsman per 25,000 residents) and Tarnów (one full-time ombudsman per 27,500 residents). Malbork, on the other hand, came out the worst as local ombudsman worked only 3 hours a week, which means that it was more than 40 times more difficult for a statistical resident to get help than in Pyrzyce.

Advice

In 2018, ombudsmen gave 475,929 advice. This is slightly more than compared to 2017 (447,000). Usually, consumers reported problems regarding the sale of products (more than 243,000 complaints). As in previous years, these were mainly complaints about clothes and shoes (more than 78,000 complaints), but their number is decreasing for the third year in a row. Ombudsmen also often advised on electronics, household appliances and computers (almost 66,000 complaints) and furniture (almost 37,000 complaints); in the latter case, there were 15% complaints more compared to the year before.

Example 1: A customer bought a phone from an operator on an instalment plan. Before he paid it off, he sold the phone to a pawnshop where another consumer bought it. After some time, he began to receive messages about unpaid instalments and the possibility of blocking the phone. The consumer filed a complaint with the pawnshop, citing legal defect of the device and demanded a refund. The pawnshop rejected it, explaining that the seller had claimed that the phone was his property. It was only after the intervention of the municipal consumer ombudsman from Szczecin that the pawnshop accepted the complaint.

Ombudsmen also advised on services – they gave almost 157,000 advice. Most complaints, just like a year ago, related to telecommunications. Consumers filed 35,000 such complaints. However, their number fell by as much as 25%. The reason behind this decrease may be the elimination of dishonest companies that impersonated current operator and planted clients a new contract for signing as an annex to the previous one. Fines imposed by UOKiK turned out to be effective; publicising the issue also worked as consumer vigilance has increased. Many such companies have already wound down. The situation is similar in the energy industry where the number of complaints about fraudulent sellers has also dropped, says Marek Niechciał, President of UOKiK.

Consumer ombudsmen receive less and less financial complaints. In 2018, they handled less than 17,000 finance-related cases, i.e. 2.5% less than in 2017. This does not mean that the demand for assistance in disputes with banks or other financial institutions is decreasing. More and more often consumers turn to a specialized institution, such as the Financial Ombudsman. In 2018, it recorded 9% an increase in the number of cases related to operations on the banking and capital market and gave almost as much advice as all ombudsmen put together in the field of finance, i.e. more than 16,000.

On the other hand, the number of complaints about the tourist industry has increased by as much as 44% compared to 2017. Consumers reported to ombudsmen over 10,000 problems such as shortening the stay by up to 2 days due to changes in flight hours, improper contract performance or compensation. The increase may be due to new regulations that have increased the rights of consumers on this market.

Ombudsmen receive more and more healthcare-related complaints. In 2018, they handled 4,245 service-related cases and over 10,000 cases involving products, while the year before it was 2,331 and over 7,000 cases respectively. These complaints mainly concerned unfair practices that occur during sales at trade shows. Consumers, mostly seniors, are usually lured to such shows with a promise of free medical tests, and they end up with the so-called medical packages, parapharmaceuticals or products with “healing” properties worth up to several thousand złotys. Ombudsmen helped senior consumers withdraw from such contracts, intervened with entrepreneurs, notified the prosecutor’s office and cooperated with UOKiK which conducts proceedings in cases of violating consumers’ collective interests.

Example 2: A consumer bought a “healing” mattress at a trade show for PLN 8,500, and paid PLN 4,500 in advance. After two days, she withdrew from the contract and returned the product within deadline. The seller kept refusing to return the money for many months. Only when the consumer asked an ombudsman from Suwałki to draw up a petition and filed it with court, the seller returned the advance within one day together with court costs and interest.

Addresses to entrepreneurs

In 2018, ombudsmen turned to entrepreneurs in consumer cases 52,685 times. Companies must then provide explanations and respond, otherwise they will be subject to a fine. According to ombudsmen, starting a dialogue with an entrepreneur increases the chance of settling the dispute in favour of the consumer. This strategy is effective in up to 70% of cases. Unfortunately, the number of addresses has been falling for several years: in 2017, more than 55,000 of them were given. The Warmian-Mazurian Province came out poorly with only 882 addresses, which is 38% less than the year before.

In 2018, on the other hand, the municipal consumer ombudsman from Łódź intervened the most frequently (2,003 times), followed by the municipal consumer ombudsman from Warsaw (1,744 addresses) and Toruń (1,251). On average, one ombudsman deliver 142 addresses, but in 8 districts no addresses were given. Clearly, the differences in the type of actions taken for consumers’ benefit are major.

Addresses more often concerned the sale of products than services. The range of cases was enormous: from complaints about a parachuting course to the smell of a sofa and the repair of a telephone… damaged by a cow.

Example 3: A power supplier would send invoices irregularly. A client paid all invoices he received on time. In November 2018, the operator counted the missing invoices and demanded that the client pay almost PLN 6,000. Following the complaint, the operator only agreed to the client paying in instalments. Thanks to the help of the municipal consumer ombudsman from Słupsk, it was possible to calculate the actual power consumption and prove that not only was the client not in arrears with payment but overpaid the operator almost PLN 3,000.

Legal assistance

In 2018, ombudsmen assisted consumers in 3,896 proceedings. This is more than in 2017, when they provided support in 3,729 court cases. Unfortunately, still 78% of ombudsmen did not take such action at all. They justified their low activity with a risk of the district being charged with the costs of legal representation if the case was lost, staffing problems, lack of experience and reluctance of consumers to go to court.

Most often, their assistance consisted of preparing pleadings (in 3,283 cases). In 613 cases, ombudsmen formally participated in the proceedings (they brought legal actions or joined them). This is 60% more than last year. In 2018, courts handled 14 collective disputes initiated by consumer ombudsmen, mostly about policies with an insurance capital fund and agreements for loan indexed to Swiss franc.

Education

In addition to helping consumers, many ombudsmen engaged in consumer education campaigns. They conducted classes at schools (e.g. on how to write a formal letter of complaint), organized consumer knowledge competitions, met with seniors, and spread knowledge of consumer rights through the media.

Do you want to learn more about the work of ombudsmen and make yourself acquainted with detailed statistics? Read the 2018 report.

Consumer service:

Phone: 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer helpline
E-mail: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or district
Regional Consumer Centres: 22 299 60 90 – Dlakonsumenta.pl
Financial Ombudsmen – following the complaint rejection by a financial institution
Provinial Trade Inspection Inspectorates

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL