European Consumer Centre – Iceland / Evrópska neytendaaðstoðin (ENA/ECC-Iceland)
Annual Report 2014
Was your flight delayed?
Did the rental car break down?
Was the hotel not as advertised?
Has the product bought on-line not arrived?
When cross border purchases go wrong it is good to be able to turn to the ECC-Net, which
offers assistance to consumers free of charge.
The ECC-Net in general
ECC-Iceland is part of the European Consumer Centre Network (ECC-Net), which consists of
30 centres throughout the EU, Iceland and Norway. The Consumers’ Association of Iceland
hosts ECC-Iceland according to an agreement with the Ministry of
the Interior and the cost is divided between the ministry and EU.
The ECC-Net´s purpose is to assist consumers, by providing
information and assistance, when disputes arise with traders over
cross-border commerce within the European Economic Area (EEA).
The ECC-Net also offers a mediation service, by gathering
information, forwarding complaints to traders and keeping track of
any progress abroad. If necessary, ECC-Iceland can therefore liaise
with a foreign trader via its sister centre in the country of purchase.
The services of the ECC-Net are free of charge. ECC-Iceland also
handles communication with Icelandic traders when complaints come in from consumers in
other countries within the EEA. If mediation by the ECC-Net proves futile the network also
assists consumers in forwarding their case to an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) if an
ADR-body is in place.
You can contact the offices of ECC-Iceland by phone (+354) 5451200 between 10:00 and
15:00 on weekdays or send us an e-mail to [email protected].
1
ECC-Iceland
ECC-Iceland’s operation, which is relatively small, is hosted by the Consumers’ Association of
Iceland. The association’s employees therefore also work for ECC-Iceland but the staff
numbers of the ECC are equivalent to approx. 50% of a full time job that is shared between
three employees. They are Hildigunnur Hafsteinsdóttir, lawyer and director of ECC-Iceland,
Ívar Halldórsson, lawyer and case-handler and Sigurlína Sigurðardóttir receptionist and casehandler.
Number of cases handled by ECC-Iceland
All information requests and complaints need to be entered into a specific registration
system, IT-tool. In 2014 ECC-Iceland registered 39 information requests (consumers asking
questions about their rights or specific issues), 25 simple complaints (consumers complaining
about specific dealings with traders) and 42 normal complaints (where further intervention
from the ECC was needed). In total ECC-Iceland had 106 contacts from consumers during the
year, which is similar to 2013 and a bit above the average case load during the last few years.
The website
The website of ECC-Iceland is www.ena.is, and the aim is to inform consumers about
consumer issues within the EEA and give advice about cross border purchases. News
bulletins are added regularly, published both in English and Icelandic. Reports on joint
projects from the ECC-Net are also published on-line, as well as on-line brochures made by
ECC-Iceland on specific consumer topics. During this year ECC-Iceland plans to open a new
and improved website.
2
Other projects
In addition to providing guidance and acting as intermediary in complaints, ECC-Iceland
works on various other projects. ECC-centres are located in all countries within the EEA
(except Liechtenstein) and the ECC-Net is an extensive network. ECC representatives
therefore convene regularly in addition to having a great deal of e-mail communication. The
Net as a whole also works on various joint projects and publishes reports on
different consumer issues, all of which can be found on the website
ww.ena.is.
Amongst the joint projects this year was the launch of the ECC-Net: Travel
App. The app, which is available free of charge and works off-line, provides
legal knowledge and language support in 25 European languages.
Consumers can receive information about their rights in various situations
and relevant phrases in the language of their holiday destination.
ECC-Iceland also took part in an open
house hosted by the Consumers´ Association on Cultural
night in August 2014. Light refreshment was offered as
well as promotional material from the ECC-Net and an
introduction of the network. Attendance was quite good
so hopefully this will be an annual thing.
During the year ECC-Iceland received some media
attention, both from newspapers and national radio.
There was also substantial coverage on the ECC in the Consumer Magazine, both regarding
success stories and the operations of the ECC in general.
Success stories from ECC-Iceland
A vast majority of the cases handled by ECC-Iceland in 2014 regarded transport issues, and
mostly cases derived from disgruntled tourists, so most cases concerned car rental or air
travel. Here are some examples of cases successfully handled by ECC-Iceland in 2014:
A ruined coffee table
A Swedish consumer bought a coffee table through a Canadian website. When the table
arrived the consumer noticed that it was broken. The consumer then claimed compensation
from the company responsible for the transport of the table from Iceland to Sweden.
However he never received a reply. He then contacted the ECC-Net and asked for assistance.
When ECC-Iceland contacted the company it turned out that the company had never
received the complaint and so no complaint had arrived within a set time limit. However,
after the intervention of the ECC the company agreed to pay compensation.
3
A flight delayed by eight hours
A Finnish family booked a flight from Halifax to
Amsterdam, via Keflavík, Iceland, with an Icelandic
airline. Their flight to Keflavík was delayed so they
missed their connecting flight to Amsterdam. Due to
this they arrived at their final destination eight hours
after the estimated time of arrival. The family made a
claim for compensation of 2.400 euros (600 euros for
each of them) according to an EU regulation on air
passengers´ rights. After contacting their ECC, which in
turn shared the case with ECC-Iceland the family
received compensation.
A damaged windshield
A French tourist rented a car in Iceland. During his rental the front windshield was damaged.
The car rental company stated that the whole windshield needed to be changed as it was
impossible to repair the damaged by other means. So the tourist was charged for this cost as
it was not really in dispute that he had caused the damage. He then turned to the ECC in
order to receive more data about the damage and repair, so that he could in turn get
compensation from his insurance company, but until that time no data had been
forthcoming. The ECC was able to get all the data needed so that the tourist could claim
compensation from his insurance
A cracked bumper
A French tourist rented a car while travelling in Iceland. Upon return two cracks were found
on the car´s rear bumper. The car rental company therefore demanded that the consumer
paid 350.000 ISK (approx. 2.300 euros which was the maximum charge) and charged 175.000
ISK from his credit card without any further explanation. The consumer then contacted ECCNet, which got him the invoice for the repair as well as a refund of the amount overcharged,
but the total damage amounted to approx. 110.000 ISK.
Reykjavík, 26th of January 2015,
Hildigunnur Hafsteinsdóttir
4