Against the ropes. This is how the German chain Media Markt finds itself after several consumer organizations have filed an avalanche of complaints against it “for systematically violating the Consumer Guarantees Law of 2002”.
Facua, the Federation of Consumers in Action, assures that “dozens of complaints have been filed in practically all the autonomous communities because the German group breaks the regulations and instead of attending to the claims of customers who have purchased a defective product refers them again and again to the manufacturer“.
Along the same lines, Pedro Varela, vice-president of the Consumers Union of Spain, assures that “Media Markt has been the first company to have entered the list of Companies with Reprehensible Practices, which we have just launched”. Varela describes the attitude of the German household appliance stores as “a real violation of consumer rights” and insists that “their advertising aggressiveness announcing the lowest prices on the market does not correspond to reality.” Given the large number of open files, the UCE launched a system for processing complaints against the chain and, according to those responsible, in just three weeks more than 50 complaints were received.
consumer complaints
In principle, the claims are being filed with the consumer authorities of the autonomous communities, which are the ones with the powers, although there are those who are also thinking of going to court to defend consumer rights. The first to do so could be the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). Its president, José María Múgica, has acknowledged to elEconomista.es that “the breach of the consumer guarantee law is tremendous and we are studying what measures to adopt”. The initial intention of the OCU, however, is not to act only against Media Markt but to go to the Administration or ordinary justice through a global action for breach of the law against the distribution sector.
Spanish legislation obliges stores and commercial chains to take responsibility for damaged products and offer a minimum two-year warranty. During that time they are obliged to repair the chosen item or replace it with a new one, as decided by the consumer. The OCU also explains that “in the event that neither of these two options are possible, the consumer can choose between a price reduction or a full refund of the money.”
Media Markt, which since its arrival in Spain has confronted the rest of the sector with such aggressive advertising slogans as “Because I’m not stupid” or “We don’t do it out of spite or anger or contempt: Competition, sorry for our prices” would be systematically failing, according to these organizations, the regulations in force. Most of its competitors also accuse the company of selling its products in some cases below cost, dumping and also breaking the Trade Law.
sale below costs
“Clearly they are selling some of their items below price as a consumer hook, but that is very difficult to demonstrate later before the authorities of defense of the competition and for this reason, until now, nobody has dared to act”, says a senior manager of one of the largest companies in the home appliance sector, who prefers to remain anonymous. Media Markt, a company owned by the German distribution group Metro, It also owns Makro in Spain, it is one of the most opaque companies in its entire sector. The company has refused, for example, to reveal how much its administrators earn in their latest annual accounts, as established by current legislation. remuneration have not been identified in the report as required by commercial regulations”, says KPMG, the firm that has supervised its financial statements and that has included a caveat in them. The holding company, Media Markt Saturn, which integrates all the companies The chain acknowledges that its personnel expenses exceed 9 million, but it does not give any details of how much its managers take in. No person in charge of the firm has wanted to answer the calls from this newspaper to talk about their problems with consumers.
With more than 40 stores throughout Spain, the company is a steamroller with a turnover of more than 15,000 million euros and which has caused a wave of mergers in our country. In 2006, Master Cadena and Idea joined forces to stand up to it, and a year earlier Milar, Tien-21 and Medimax did the same. Others, however, have not been as lucky. Fnac had to close its Surcouf electronics chain due to market problems.
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