Hanging «extras»: entrepreneurs begin to be fined for imposed services

Penalties for such an action for officials will amount from 2000-4000 rubles, for legal entities — from 20-40 thousand rubles.

In addition, the Administrative Code introduces a fine for unjustified refusal to satisfy consumer requirements related to violation of his rights: for officials — from 15 thousand to 30 thousand rubles; for legal entities — from 100 thousand to 300 million rubles.

How to impose additional goods and services

Very often, additional services in Russia are trying to weight car buyers. The contracts of purchase and sale of a vehicle forcibly and for excess cost include bouquets of services.

So, in February 2022, a resident of the Krasnoyarsk Territory purchased a car from a dealer of LLC «Ultra». For the imposed services, the man laid out almost 400 thousand rubles in excess of the cost of the car. Without an agreement with additional clauses in the contract, the buyer was simply refused to sell the car. So, he was forced to agree with the «extras» in the form of legal support, roadside assistance in case of accidents and evacuation.

However, when the car was already purchased, the man did not lose his head and went to Rospotrebnadzor. With the help of lawyers of the state department, the consumer sent a letter of complaint to the partner company of the car dealership and the performer of the imposed services — LLC «Sever» about the unilateral refusal of additional services and the return of funds in the amount of 392 thousand 100 rubles.

LLC «Sever» did not respond to the request, did not return the funds.

At this stage, the Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Rospotrebnadzor) joined the case.

As a result of the inspection, the company-seller of the car LLC «Ultra» was issued an order to eliminate the identified violations when concluding a purchase and sale agreement. In addition, Ultra LLC was brought to administrative responsibility under Part 2 of Article 14.8 of the Administrative Code (for including conditions in the contract that infringe on consumer rights and imposing additional services) in the form of an administrative fine of 10,000 rubles.

At the same time, Rospotrebnadzor filed a lawsuit against Sever LLC — to recover the amount of money paid for additional services, compensation for moral damage and a fine for voluntarily dissatisfaction with consumer requirements. By the court's decision, all the stated requirements of Rospotrebnadzor for the protection of the rights of the consumer — buyer of the car are satisfied. The amount of money paid — 251,400 rubles, compensation for moral damage — 10,000 rubles, a fine — 130,700 rubles was collected from Sever LLC for the imposed services.

And car dealerships practice forcing buyers to conclude a loan agreement. A person can pay for a car without borrowed funds, but they tell him at the dealership that if you just pay through the cash register, the car will be more expensive. And if you take a technical loan, even for a couple of days, we will make a discount. The car dealership has a partnership agreement with the bank, and the bank pays a commission to the car dealer for driving customers. But the client is not interested in these schemes at all, so the service is imposed.

Instructions for a snowmobile for 300 thousand

The other day, a resident of Yekaterinburg left the car dealership, where she was buying a used Audi, with instructions for a snowmobile for 300 thousand rubles. Although she does not have a snowmobile and she did not plan to buy it. In addition, I had to pay some more money for a Terra Driver plastic card — in fact, it is a sold service for technical and legal assistance on the roads.

How did it happen?

For the Audi Q5 car, the girl flew from Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg: there, at the Rolf car dealership, she found a suitable option.

The customer was shown a plastic card, according to which she would allegedly be able to receive additional services and which, if desired, she could refuse. She decided she didn't want to go back to Yekaterinburg is without the desired car, so I issued a loan for the service for 315 thousand rubles.

When she returned home and carefully read the contract, she realized that she had spent money on a 22-page snowmobile management manual. A flash drive was embedded inside the plastic card, on which this document was recorded. The catch is that the instruction was presented by the seller as a «non-periodic electronic publication», which is non-refundable.

Banks and mobile operators also sin by imposing services

The Central Bank this week reported a sharply increased number of complaints from customers about the inability to return money for imposed services under bank loan agreements.

Among the most common imposed services are various credit insurance. In addition, banks often offer subscriptions to an online cinema, psychotherapists, astrologers or veterinarians! In one of the well-known state banks, it is impossible to open a savings account at the rate stated in the advertisement without switching to the mobile operator they offer. Thus, customers are faced with the need to overpay.

According to the law, the so-called cooling-off period applies to bank customers after the loan is issued. This is the period when it is possible to refuse additional services. From January 2024, the cooling period is increased to 30 days.

A lot of complaints come from consumers and mobile operators. In order to increase profits, companies forcibly change tariffs for customers. Managers on the phone use all sorts of tricks to get consent to connect unlimited Internet, SMS alerts, subscribe to paid services, including porn resources. All this increases the subscription or regular fee of customers for cellular communication. Mobile operators take advantage of the fact that not all consumers of services check balances, lists of paid services in their personal account and not all order traffic details.

Money for imposed services can be returned only through the court

Initiating lawsuits to recover lost money is a time—consuming process. Not everyone is ready for long proceedings, the costs of lawyers and the involvement of Rospotrebnadzor. Therefore, unscrupulous sellers continue to practice this «consumer terrorism». One out of 10 will go to court, and nine will not. Even if you have to pay one fine, the proceeds from the nine «instructions for snowmobiles» still cover the costs.

The updated Administrative Code of the Russian Federation now recognizes the imposed services as an offense and additional sanctions are provided for this. And what is important is that unscrupulous sellers run into a huge fine already at the stage of «evading consideration of legitimate consumer claims related to violation of his rights» — that is, at the stage of a pre-trial claim.

«The Administrative Code of the Russian Federation has not so far contained a separate composition of an administrative offense providing for administrative responsibility for the imposition of additional goods and services, and the amounts of administrative punishment in the form of a fine applied to date for the inclusion in the contract of conditions infringing on the rights of consumers (according to part 2 of Article 14.8 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation) were not of a preventive and preventive nature», — Rospotrebnadzor states its position, pointing out that most administrative fines for violation of consumer rights have not been increased since 2001.

Often, the imposition of services reaches amounts of 100-500 thousand rubles and reaches 50% of the cost of the purchased goods. At the same time, the amount of the fine for this violation is 2 thousand rubles, and for legal entities — 20 thousand rubles. Given the massive nature of such offenses and the many appeals of citizens to Rospotrebnadzor and the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the existing sanctions are clearly insufficient,» the authors of the bill note in an explanatory note.

Besides,

Imposing additional goods, works, and services on customers provokes an increase in prices for basic goods

Thus, the increase in prices in 2021, in particular, in the automotive market is caused not only by a change in the balance of supply and demand as a result of the introduction of quarantine measures in 2020, but is also due to the actions of official dealers of various car brands by imposing additional equipment and financial services on buyers,» the Ministry of Industry and Trade notes in its response to a request from the Ministry of Industry and Trade RF Federal Antimonopoly Service.

According to the information analyzed by the FAS of Russia, often the consumer cannot purchase a car and components at the prices that car dealers indicate on their official websites. The difference in price on the website and directly in the car dealership can be about 10% — 30%, or the consumer is forced to purchase additional equipment for the same amount. At the same time, the cost of such additional equipment significantly exceeds the cost of similar equipment in other service stations. The FAS of Russia also confirms the willingness of dealers to provide a discount on a car in the case of a loan from a partner bank or the purchase of additional services — for example, for example, insurance (life, car).

In the US, they are struggling with non-alternative services

BY the way, in the United States, the authorities filed a lawsuit against the largest e-commerce platform Amazon. The company was accused of creating a monopoly and imposing non-alternative services to customers. So far, Amazon is only required to ban certain practices, such as guaranteeing the lowest price and reducing commissions that are taken from sellers. But potentially this case could end up with billions in fines.

A lot of complaints come from consumers and mobile operators. In order to increase profits, companies forcibly change tariffs to customers. Managers by phone use all sorts of tricks to get consent to connect unlimited Internet, SMS alerts, subscribe to paid services, including porn resources. All this increases the subscription or regular fee of customers for cellular communication. Mobile operators take advantage of the fact that not all consumers of services check balances, lists of paid services in their personal account and not all order traffic details.

Thus, the increase in prices in 2021, in particular, in the automotive market is caused not only by a change in the balance of supply and demand as a result of the introduction of quarantine measures in 2020, but is also due to the actions of official dealers of various car brands by imposing additional equipment and financial services on buyers,» the Ministry of Industry and Trade notes in its response to a request from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. RF Federal Antimonopoly Service.

In the USA, they are struggling with non-alternative services

The State Duma in the second reading adopted a law on administrative penalties for imposing additional paid goods, works, and services on consumers.