Consumer Reader: What to do if we are not satisfied with a product or service?

It happens to all of us that we are not satisfied with the service of a company or with the products we have bought. There is a solution and a way out of such a situation. You do not need to immediately declare the trader a fraudster. In any case, it is good to inform him what happened. It is important to say exactly what you are not happy with and how you want the case to be resolved.

If you don’t feel like reading all the text below, you can watch this short video.

Say exactly what you want and negotiate

A common mistake when filing complaints is that consumers forget to state what their desire when trying to solve a problem with a trader.

You will say that there is no way to satisfy your desire completely. It may be so, but there is always room for negotiation. Try to negotiate directly with the company, at the contacts indicated by it - phone number, e-mail address or just submit your complaint in the online platform of NAIS- nais.bg, where you can add it yourself, if it is not already in it. For non-Bulgarian citizens the tool for solving disputes is the ODR platform of EU.

Our platform also gives you the option to negotiate directly with the merchant, and this happens in the form of a chat at a convenient time for each party, without having to do it at the same time.

What happens if the negotiations fail?

Whether in a conversation with the trader in his communication channel or in the NAIS platform, if your complaint is not satisfied, you have not reached an agreement, your next step is to invite him to an alternative dispute resolution. We use mediation for this purpose - a procedure in which a third, impartial and independent person, called a mediator, supports your negotiations.

In case you have negotiated with  the trader by phone or e-mail so far, it is necessary to file a complaint again in our ADR Center on nais.bg. If you have already filed such a complaint with us and have negotiated on our platform, all you have to do is press the START MEDIATION button. Remember that the procedure is voluntary and the trader may not agree to participate in it. However, if he agrees to get involved, our mediators will take care to help you understand each other.

It is important to know that mediators do not give solutions, they do not even prompt them. They only help the parties to generate their own decisions on which to reach agreement.

Final steps

Of course, the mediation may end in failure and wihtout solution to your dispute with the trader. Of course, you can always file a complaint with the CPC, the body that makes sure that traders comply with the Consumer Protection Law. They are obliged to check the case, they may even impose a fine on the trader in case of breach. At this point, you will no longer have the unique opportunity to negotiate to find a solution that best satisfies your request, because the authority is obliged to force the trader to comply with the law, but not to meet exactly your expectations. So, we recommend that you keep this option as a final step. We remind you that you can always initiate legal proceedings, especially in a dispute with an extremely high value of interest. ADR does not deprive you in the least of this opportunity.

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Published on 12.10.2021 Back to news