The 2020 winter sales have officially begun. The first to kick off the discount season are stores in Basilicata, Valle d'Aosta, and Sicily, with other regions to follow.
“The moment eagerly awaited by consumers, however, hides several deceptions” declares Fabrizio Premuti, National President of Konsumer Italia, who specifies “unfortunately, promotions often turn out to be not very advantageous or even real commercial scams. In the case of clothing, for example, it is not uncommon to find yourself faced with warehouse leftovers and unsold items from the previous year, therefore out of fashion or of low quality. It would therefore be convenient for consumers to check the normal selling prices of the goods, a few days before the start of the sales, to make sure that they have not been inflated and that the items on sale are those of the current season.”
"Particular attention - concludes Premuti - must be paid to online purchases, in fact there are more and more cases of sites that apparently seem to be of well-known brands and then turn out to be fake. Unfortunately, once you have fallen into these traps, getting your money back is almost always impossible. Internet consumers must therefore always verify that they are on the original site of the seller, checking data such as: contact details, VAT number, registration with the Chamber of Commerce."
Precisely to protect Italian consumers, Konsumer has drawn up a list of nineteen points to follow:
1. The items that are offered on sale must be those of the current season or in fashion, there is nothing to stop you from also putting on sale items that do not belong to the current season but for these we cannot speak of a sale, the depreciation because they are out of fashion represents their actual value.
2. The possibility of exchanging an item due to second thoughts after purchasing it is generally left to the discretion of the retailer.
3. The possibility of trying on the items is also left to the discretion of the retailer: there is no obligation.
4. If after purchase the item is found to be defective or unsuitable for use, you can request termination of the contract, even for items on sale the rule of the guarantee for 24 months from purchase applies; the retailer must return the amount paid, replace the item or reduce its price. It is important to keep the receipt. Particular attention must be paid to receipts made of chemical paper that after a short time become illegible, better to make a photocopy or use an alternative service such as the one provided by Garanteasy.
5. The indication of the price is an obligation of the retailer, the tag must indicate the normal selling price, the percentage of the discount and the final price.
6. Be careful when paying for the goods, especially when purchasing multiple items, carefully check the price requested for each item or object purchased, that it is exactly the same as the one shown on display, if you notice a price or discount different from the one indicated, you must point it out to the shopkeeper. In case of problems, ask for the intervention of the municipal police.
7. For payments, credit cards must be accepted by the merchant without any additional costs or limitations for the Consumer.
8. Be careful when using debit or revolving cards, paying with these cards can cancel the convenience of the balance due to the high interest rates applied which sometimes even exceed 25%.
9. For online purchases, it is essential to navigate with updated browsers and active antivirus.
10. Verify the originality of the site you are purchasing from, always verify the existence of a fixed address, a telephone number, company information, because once you have paid it is difficult to get your money back.
11. Be wary of sites that list much or all of their merchandise at discounts greater than 50%.
12. Evaluate the quality of the site: the contents must be written and correctly categorized, with a neat and not approximate layout. A grammatical or spelling error is already a great alarm bell.
13. Check social links. Try clicking on the icons of Facebook, Twitter, etc., if the site seems “official” but is actually fake, it is likely that no profile will correspond to you.
14. Verify the existence of a section with contacts and VAT number. The actual existence of the activity can be found on the institutional website of the Revenue Agency, at the address: https://telematici.agenziaentrate.gov.it/VerificaPIVA/Scegli.do?parameter=verificaPiva
15. Read feedback and comments from other customers and be wary of those who don't mention it.
16. It is also essential to check the presence of the site's security certification if you decide to proceed with the purchase. If the page where you are asked to make the payment is secure, you will find the acronym https:// (not http!) before the name of the site in the address bar. Furthermore, you can check whether the certificate is valid/updated by clicking on the left of the bar, where there is the padlock.
17. Always in relation to payment, prefer sites that allow purchases with Pay Pal, much safer than those with credit cards, and in any case try to make your payments with prepaid cards.
18. If you have suspicions, do a search on this platform: www.signal-arnaques.com/it/ where many users report poor service/scams they have encountered and send your report to the Postal Police at urp.compartimento.polposta.rm@pecps.poliziadistato.it specifying your data, the name of the site in question, the reason why you are reporting it and explicitly asking to be informed of the outcome of the checks.
19. To report any type of problem and to receive assistance from Konsumer write to the Info@konsumer.it mailbox
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