Consumer Affairs opens a sanctioning file against a bus company for deceptive practices in the price of its tickets

Second company under Consumer scrutiny for deceptive practices related to its sales prices this year. The department headed by Pablo Bustinduy has opened a sanctioning file against a bus company for possible unfair practices with consumers, to whom it would be indicating the price of their tickets in a misleading manner, and for applying abusive clauses to not refund the full amount of trips canceled by its clients.

The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 has detected that the company, whose name has not been revealed, does not indicate the complete final price of the tickets, including management costs, but rather would be incorporating them in the final phase of contracting. This practice, which is known as “drip pricing”, prevents the customer from knowing the final price of the service they are contracting if they have not previously entered their data and have advanced in the purchasing process. It is a way to prevent you from comparing prices with other companies and to hinder your freedom of choice.

The “drip price”, in relation to management expenses, was expressly prohibited thanks to a law promoted by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs itself and which was approved last year. This is known as the SAC Law (Customer Service Services), which introduced a modification to article 20.1 c) of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. It obliges companies to include management expenses, if any, from the beginning of the commercial communication.

If proven, this practice entails a violation of misleading advertising according to the new law, given that it is considered an unfair commercial practice, and can lead to a fine of up to 100,000 euros or between four and six times the illicit benefit obtained by the alleged offender.

The abuse of management fees

It is not the only infraction that this road transport company would be incurring. Consumption has also detected that it would not be making a full refund of the money that a customer pays for a ticket when they cancel their trip. Specifically, it would not be refunding the amount for management expenses after a canceled trip and would be justifying it with clauses that would also be abusive according to articles 83 and 87 of the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. In this case, the company may have to face a fine of up to 1 million euros or between six and eight times the illegal profit obtained.