The Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance warns consumers to be attentive to the products they purchase, especially during the holidays, when apparently attractive offers are launched. Inspectors visited a number of shopping centers and identified a number of misleading commercial practices, IPN reports.
The Agency’s inspectors recommend the buyers to ask from the seller comprehensive information about the product that holds their interest, while the seller is obliged to provide this, including information about the existing offers.
If the promotion includes offers of up to 20%, 30% or 80%, it is enough for at least one product to be sold at such a discount. The buyers are urged to also show vigilance when they analyze the prizes of the products sold at a discount. The business entity is obliged to post the offer price on the product or in the immediate vicinity, to cross the old price and to show the discount percentage.
The inspectors warn that some of the traders use the practice of raising the price one day before announcing the offer so as to be able to post a higher reduction. The buyer can ask for and obtain information about the variations in the prices of a particular product.
Immediately after the promotional period, the seller must remove any information that misleads the consumer.
If the business entities resort to misleading commercial practices they can be fined up to 9 000 lei. Complaints can be submitted to the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance.
