A number of problems related to marketing and contract terms came up in connection with an online business selling various personalised printed products. The online business did not display clear information about the total price, the language of the customer service and the company’s address. In this respect, the company’s operations were in breach of the law.
The consumer can visit the website Vistaprint.fi for example to order cards and calendars produced from his or her own photographs. The Dutch company has similar websites in a number of languages in different countries. Several issues that are problems from the consumer’s perspective were detected on the Finnish site. The information provided on prices was misleading, for example, and the customer service could only be contacted in English using an electronic form.
The consumer must be able to contact the company without delay
Especially in case of a complaint, it is essential that the consumer can contact the company effortlessly. The exceptionally poor weather conditions in Europe around Christmas year ago resulted in a great number of delays in the online business’ card deliveries. In these circumstances, the consumers wished to contact the company’s customer service immediately, which proved difficult.
Under law, a company is obliged to provide their customers information about their geographical address on their website and to offer their customers adequate channels for contacting the company. The website did not contain information about the company’s address or give a telephone number that the consumer could contact for enquiries. The fact that the address can be found on the company’s English website cannot be considered adequate, as the address must be shown on the Finnish site.
The Services Directive, for example, refers to the telephone number in particular as the type of contact details with the help of which the customer should be able to contact the service provider. The obligation to provide a telephone number can also be justified by the fact that the company does not offer its customers any other means of contact, for example by correspondence or through a personal customer service point. An e-mail form found on the company’s website alone cannot be considered an adequate means that ensures a possibility of contacting the company fast and effectively.
The customer service language must be clearly indicated
In terms of conducting their business effortlessly, it plays a key role for the customers if the company offers customer service in the consumers’ native language. The information about the customer service language could only be found on the online business’s customer service page, which the customer does not necessarily end up visiting at all before placing an order. And as the rest of the website was provided in Finnish, it does not necessarily even occur to the consumer that customer service cannot be obtained in the same language. The company’s actions cannot be regarded as meeting the requirement of clarity and conspicuousness specified as the conditions for offering customer service in a foreign language.
Indicating the total price is important
Indicating prices clearly is in the interest of both consumers and companies. Under the Decree on advertising prices, the total sales price including value-added tax must be given for a product in marketing.
On the Vistaprint.fi website, however, product prices were given excluding value-added tax, which was misleading to the consumer and in breach of the Decree. The consumer was only informed about the amount of tax towards the final stages of the ordering process. As the consumer ends up paying the taxes and other charges, giving the total price in marketing is highly significant for the consumer.
Towards better customer service
The company’s operating practices relevant to delayed deliveries were found to be appropriate and adequate, but as regards issues relevant to indicating prices, contactability of customer service and the language of customer service, its operations were in violation of the law, and the Consumer Ombudsman demands that they be changed.
The company has more recently added the contact details, their geographical address and the value-added tax in product prices on their website. English will remain as their customer service language, but the company has expressed their willingness to also offer customer service in Finnish in the future. This is a move in the right direction, as the absence of Finnish customer service may become a stumbling block when competing in the domestic market.
Policies of the new EU directive
The new Directive on consumer rights (2011/83/EU) contains provisions on distance selling, which for example reinforce the requirements relevant to indicating prices and customer service. This Directive entered into force in November 2011, and it must be transposed into the national legislation within two years.
Under the Directive, the trader must provide the consumer information about the total price of the goods or services including taxes as well as all freight, delivery or postal charges and other costs. If the costs cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the consumer must be informed of the fact that they may have to pay such additional costs. The consumer should also be informed about the availability and conditions of after-sales customer support.
KUV/11130/41/2010
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on services in the internal market 2006/123/EC (Article s 22 and 27)
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce 2000/31/EC
Directive on consumer rights 2011/83/EU (Article 6)