The UFC-Que Choisir association has just lodged a complaint against Back Market, the French giant of refurbished high-tech products, for misleading commercial practices. A stone in the pond of this flourishing market.
This Wednesday, June 15, UFC-Que Choisir ad in a communicated lodge a complaint against Back Market before the Paris court for “misleading business practices“. The French consumer defense association is attacking the famous platform specializing in the sale of refurbished high-tech products – smartphones, tablets, cameras, printers… A refurbishment giant – the French company is present in thirteen countries on three continents and valued at more than 5 billion dollars… – which is enjoying growing success with the trend towards sustainable purchasing. the refurbished specialist is the subject of criticism. In 2019, a survey by the magazine 60 million consumers revealed that Back Market was receiving numerous complaints concerning the satisfaction of its customers, in particular on the duration of its guarantee – six months at the end of the year. period, extended to twelve months thereafter. And in March 2022, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) published the results of a survey conducted in 2020 and 2021 in which it noted a lack of information for consumers among several players in the field, including Back Market.
UFC-Que Choisir accuses Back Market of deceptive practices
UFC-Que Choisir points to several problems today. To start, Back Market compares the price of an item purchased new – which of course is not sold on the site – with that of a refurbished item, which is purchasable from a reseller via the platform. However, as the association points out, the ergonomics of the site misleads the consumer, making him believe in a promotion. Indeed, the price of the new item is crossed out and displayed next to the refurbished item for sale. For example, the site highlights a laptop sold at almost -60%, or 415 euros instead of 1,099 euros if it was new. However, for UFC-Que Choisir, “these are not promotions since Back Market is actually comparing two different products: a new product, which is not sold on the site, and a refurbished product“.
The second problem lies in the famous “service charge“, which are only visible at the time of payment and therefore cannot be anticipated in the budget to be spent. The association believes that they should be displayed on the main page of the product. The company justify their presence by the necessity ofinvest in numerous quality approaches, with the aim of ensuring the best refurbished experience, offering responsive and available customer service, and innovating to continually improve our service and quality and to create new services at the customer care“.
UFC-Que Choisir also singles out the platform for offering a twelve-month contractual warranty – offered for an additional fee – which ensures a response from the retailer within 24 hours and a solution, either in the form of a replacement or a replacement. repair of the product, within five working days. In reality, the company hides information from the buyer since the legal guarantee of conformity is twenty-four months for refurbished products resold by a professional, according to Article L221-7 of the Consumer Code.
Finally, the association looked at the presence of essential cookies, these small files placed on the Internet user’s device which store information for subsequent connections. She claims that their “team of lawyers found that tracking cookies were placed even though the Internet user had refused them“.
This complaint comes after six months of exchanges of letters, in which the association demands “fair and exhaustive information” on the company’s website. This is the first complaint by a consumer association in Europe against Back Marquet, although these practices have already been denounced by the German association VZBV.