CMA receives 16,000 consumer complaints over coronavirus refunds
Around four fifths of the complaints received by the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) coronavirus taskforce have been related to refunds and cancellations.
As of the beginning of the week, the CMA has received a total of 21,000 complaints related to the disease.
According to the competition watchdog, 14,000 of these complaints refer to the same 6,000 firms.
The CMA has written to 187 of these firms, which are responsible for 2,500 complaints, over issues such as price gouging for domestic products such as hand sanitiser.
The body said it would continue to collect evidence and would set out guidelines over how it would tackle refunds and cancellations issues next week.
It added that it would “not hesitate to take enforcement action if there is evidence that businesses have breached competition or consumer protection law”.
Travel firms owe £7bn in refunds
The CMA’s disclosures come after consumer rights group Which? revealed that the UK’s twenty largest travel firms and airlines owed customers a collective £7bn in refunds due to coronavirus.
Which? said that many of the firms risked breaking their legal obligations to pay refunds within seven days.
The claims leave many companies in the industry, which has seen its revenues decimated by the coronavirus shutdown, at risk of going out of business if they are forced to pay out.
Which? said that none of the ten UK airlines it had contacted were currently giving out refunds within the legal timeframe of seven days, with one refusing to process remuneration claims at all.
Industry body the International Air Transport Association has lobbied global governments to allow airlines to issue vouchers instead of refunds in order to survive the current crisis.
Christian Nielsen, board member of the Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA) said that those firms which were not making customers aware of their choices were “undermining their legal rights”.