European Consumer Centre Pilot
The European Consumer Centre in UK and Ireland have engaged The Mediation Room to run a pilot of cross border consumer disputes. The European Consumer Centre was created by the European Union in 2005 to provide information and assistance to citizens in cross-border shopping. The pilot is mentioned in the Consultation Paper issued in July 2008 by the Irish Law Reform Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution. For the duration of the pilot complaints received b y the ECC from only Irish / UK online shopping disputes are to be referred. Consumers can register their complaint about a product or service that they have purchased on the Internet and have it resolved by neutral conciliators and adjudicators. This is a two stage process:-
1. Mediation: A neutral third party engages in confidential discussions with each side to try to facilitate an agreement with which both parties find acceptable. To achieve this, he or she will seek to understand as much as possible as to the concerns of each party and try not just to identify a fair and just outcome, but one that both parties can find appropriate. It may well be that such a solution requires novel elements that a court would not be empowered to order.
2. Adjudication: If mediation does not succeed, then another neutral will consider the joint discussions that have taken place, but not those that were conducted in the private areas to which the other party did not have access, as well as responses to further questions he or she may raise and then rule on an appropriate and fair outcome.
The Adjudication is not binding on the consumer. It may be binding on the supplier dependent on the circumstances under which the Ombudsman is engaged.
There are many benefits for suppliers in agreeing to comply with the decisions of the adjudicator as follows:-
1. Speedy third party resolution online is less costly, in terms of management time, and provides more information, to most suppliers than when responding to complaints themselves.
2. Reduces the burden and risk on the credit card charge-back system as well as speeding up closure.
3. Reduces the risk of being sued in the Small Claims Court where, even if you succeed in avoiding liability you still incur a heavy cost of management time and,possibly, legal costs which are not recoverable from the consumer.
4. Declaring participation in the TIO scheme will generate more consumer confidence which will lead to increased sales.