World Consumer Rights Day that is annually marked on March 15 is ignored by the state authorities. The current government refuses to make effort to ensure the protection of consumer rights, the head of the National Public Association “Consumer Rights” Petru Guțul stated in a news conference hosted by IPN.
“The National Public Broadcaster “Teleradio-Moldova” refused to offer us broadcast space for discussing how the consumer rights are respected. The President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu didn’t respond to our request, while the head of the parliamentary legal commission Olesea Stamate responded that she will take the requests into account. Therefore, we submitted the material to the Superior Council of Magistracy,” said Petru Guțul.
A consumer told the same news conference that he is unable to pay the bills and is obliged by court to pay them, but he does not agree as his apartment that is connected to the centralized heating system wasn’t appropriately heated. “We made repeated requests to the head of the association of dwellers as the heat bills were too high when the temperature in the apartment didn’t exceed 15 degrees. Now that it is warmer outside, it is warmer in the apartment too. We made repeated calls to representatives of the Chisinau City Hall. They intervened for several times and the situation was remedied, but the apartment was heated sufficiently only for several days after that. Yesterday, I received the court decision on which there is a signature that does not belong to me. We are obliged to pay the bills, but I consider these do not correspond to the volume of supplied heat,” stated the consumer.
A female consumer from Buiucani district complained that for six years she has live in cold. “I made a request to the head of the association of apartment owners, but this ignored me. It’s true that several years ago we built an annex, but we did it legally after obtaining all the permits. Now the annex was disconnected from the supply of heat and I have to heat that space with an electric heater. However, heat bills for that area continue coming. I accumulated debts for a year and the court obliged me to pay or I would have been evicted from the apartment,” said the woman.
In another case, the person complained that the building in which he lives earlier housed a restaurant that was closed due to violations and a drugstore was now opened there. The ventilation system was kept and the smell there is unbearable, while the sounds caused by those ventilators do not allow them to sleep at night. Moreover, fissures appeared in the walls due to the vibrations produced by the ventilators.
Petru Guțul noted that situation is critical and the association he heads will have to seek help from the European Parliament as it cannot find support among the Moldovan authorities.
“Products that do not meet the standards are now sold in our shops. We reached the conclusion that we need to go to the European Parliament as the current government refuses to make effort to ensure the protection of consumer rights. Former MP Dumitru Alaiba (currently minister of economy) told us that we don’t have the right to go to the EP with such issues, but I believe that he doesn’t know the law, as many members of the current Parliament and Government don’t know and adopt decisions by order. As the Moldovan authorities refuse to listen to us, we will go to the European Parliament,” said Petru Guțul.
He also said that he continues to stand by these consumers who must be helped to obtain justice even if this is a very thorny road.
Note: IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
