Consumer advice center is taking action against rip-offs for protective masks or disinfectants in online shops
Exorbitant prices and unsustainable advertising for Corona protection – the most important thing to start with:
The Corona crisis is being exploited by brazen retailers to offer protective masks or disinfectants at exorbitant fantasy prices.
The consumer advice center warns.
Consumer advice center NRW stops unfair sale of disinfectants
Brazen transactions based on the fear and concern of consumers: During the Corona period, they are running dealers with scarce goods such as protective masks or disinfectants at fantasy prices.
The NRW consumer advice center has now taken legal action.
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Unfair aggressive business action
For example, an online shop for seniors was affected, which offered a surface disinfectant cleaner (250 bags x 20 ml) for 320 euros in a newsletter. A price comparison at various retailers showed that the average price for the product was just around 90 euros.
And usury usually occurs when the price is twice as high as the market rate and a customer's weakness is exploited.
What makes matters worse is that the disinfectant was actively advertised for seniors who are among the COVID-19 risk groups. The North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center therefore rates the offer as an unfair, aggressive commercial act.
For this reason, the NRW consumer advice center has now obtained an interim injunction against the shop from the Augsburg regional court (not legally binding). The retailer is therefore prohibited from selling the disinfectant at prices that are twice the usual market price.
“Anti Corona Virus Spray”
An online shop also received a warning because, according to consumer advocates, it advertised an alleged “Anti Corona Virus Spray” by deliberately exploiting customers’ fears.
The “virus lock” spray inactivates “the lipid membrane of coronaviruses” and can be used as a “hand disinfectant”. A “virucidal” effect was explicitly promised, which can trigger the idea, especially among risk groups, that purchasing it will provide increased protection against infection.
The only catch is that disinfectants for human hygiene are subject to approval under the Biocides Ordinance. But according to information from the Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Devices, this approval was missing. Accordingly, the alleged “Anti Corona Virus Spray” is not one of the approved hand disinfectants.
The North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center sent a warning to stop “misleading business conduct”. Shortly afterwards, not only the virus spray but the entire shop disappeared from the online market.
Source: Consumer advice center NRW
Article image: Shutterstock / Athawit Ketsak
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )