Digital reviews, those in which consumers value bars, restaurants and hotels, are a good way to discover interesting places, but also a source of conflict: many companies () complain that they receive to harm them, something that also distorts the perception of consumers. Consumption wants to end this practice with a legal modification, to which the country has had access, which will allow entrepreneurs to request the withdrawal of a review as long as they prove that the user has not enjoyed the good or service or that said comment is not true. Customers can only make an assessment in the following 30 days. With these measures, they intend to stop abusive practices.
The assessments of websites such as TripAdvisor, Thefork or Booking or Amazon, or even in more specialized ones, often suppose an important difference when choosing to go to one establishment or another. Therefore, the department of Pablo Bustinduy considers it necessary to deepen the regulation of the reviews as is being done in other countries around us (), to guarantee their veracity.
The initiative proposed by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 aims to agglutinate different measures, including the prohibition of sale of reviews, the obligation to indicate whether it has been verified that the review has been filed by a real consumer, as well as that it has been made in the 30 days after purchase or visit.
Bustinduy wants to modify the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users, in such a way the new writing of article 20 would be like this: “The commercial practices in which an entrepreneur facilitates access to the reviews of consumers and users on goods and services must contain information on the fact that the employer guarantees (or not) that said reviews published have been made by consumers and users who have really used or acquired the service. The entrepreneur must provide clear information to consumers and users about the way in which the reviews are processed. ”
Thus, “the reviews issued must refer to products or services acquired or used in the 30 calendar days prior to the date of the review and the entrepreneur who sells the good or service to which a review refers will be empowered to respond to it through the same channel,” he continues.
The modification also refers to the right of entrepreneurs to request that the false reviews or whose authors have not attended the establishment be eliminated. “The businessman whose good or service refers to the review will be empowered to request the elimination of this, for which he must prove, reliably, that the review has not been published by a consumer or user who has bought or used the good or service.”
Being a general standard, the way in which the employer must prove the lack of veracity of the review, being able to use elements adapted to the specific case: evidence that demonstrates that an invoice shown in the review has been manipulated; evidence that demonstrates that the prices referred to in the reviews are not real; Customer lists that prove that the person who has put the review has not enjoyed the service …
The measure is included in the modifications package (agreed between adding and PSOE) that is advancing consumption regarding the future Consumer Attention Law (SAC Law), which is in process in Congress. Several of its points modify the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. Predictably, the PP will support the government in this initiative, since this week has presented.
The Cientra Attention Services Law. To resume it, and hopes to approve it in Congress in the coming months. Thus, it includes measures such as and limit the resolution period of claims for 15 days.
Consumption has been preparing other amendments that it wants to include in the norm and that have been known in recent days. One of them consists of, such as the one that is usually applied in applications and services streaming. Thus, companies must inform the consumer 15 days in advance prior to the expiration of the deadline to communicate the will of non -renewal, the expiration of said period and the consequences of not communicating the cancellation of the renewal.
Coto to management expenses
In addition, the department of Pablo Bustinduy also intends to force companies to include management expenses in the final price of tickets and services. It is common for concerts to appear at a price and only at the last moment, when it is going to be paid, management expenses are added, which are also multiplied if several tickets are bought.
The text proposes to demand that “the full final price, including taxes, breakd down, where appropriate, the amount of the increases or discounts that are applied to the supply and additional expenses, including the potential management expenses, which are impacting the consumer or user”.
Consumption had already put the management expenses on the radar. A few months ago he sent a circular to the operators warning that the interpretation of the law is that these should be included in the purchase price and also indicating a series of observations that companies must respect.
Among them, which must refer exclusively to services that final consumers receive, unable to transfer to these costs for services that the event promoting the event receives exclusively. In addition, for the same event or show, additional costs cannot vary depending on the price of the entry of said event or show, nor be a percentage on the base price of the entrance, unless additional services are offered.
Another observations is that management expenses cannot be higher than additional costs supported by the consumer when entries for the same events or shows. Meanwhile, it warns that if the tickets are nominative, additional costs cannot be charged for the rectification of errors in the name, when this rectification is linked to a spelling or typographic error in the hiring online. Finally, they point out that additional costs cannot be applied due to actions that fall on the consumer, such as the impression of the entry, or the reception and storage of this on a mobile device.
