UFC-Que-Choisir has brought the Lastminute.com website to court. The consumer association accuses the travel site of "illegal, aggressive and misleading commercial practices", according to a press release published on Monday.
It is a surfer who contacted the association after being charged fees for insurance to which he had never subscribed. UFC-Que-Choisir produced a video describing the technique implemented with the example of a Paris-New York round trip by plane. If the tickets are displayed at 372.03 euros in the order summary, this is not the amount of the final note.
The association calls for "the greatest caution"
"Just after entering the bank card numbers to confirm the payment, a small pop-up window appears," says Raphaël Bartlomé, legal manager at UFC-Que Choisir, in Paris . At this moment, the consumer is certain to have finished his order, he thinks it is a confirmation and he clicks on "I accept and I continue". However, the site has just added insurance. "
In fact, validating the small window is equivalent to accepting a rather expensive insurance of 17.81 euros per person per way. It's almost 70 euros more for two people. According to UFC-Que-Choisir, this commercial practice is illegal. Legally, once the order summary is displayed and the payment validated, no additional costs should be invoiced.
In addition, the 14-day right of withdrawal for this type of order does not apply to travel insurance. The client is therefore stuck. UFC-Que Choisir calls on customers to "exercise the greatest caution and vigilance". Those who have already been victims of the scam can testify on the association's website. In the UK, this practice reportedly brought in £ 6 million a year to Lastminute.com, according to The Times.
Requested by AFP and 20 Minutes, this Monday morning for a reaction, Lastminute, majority owned by the unlisted company Freesailors Coöperatief UA based in the Netherlands, did not respond immediately.
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