Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
09.10.2015
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
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Being charged for something you did not consume or service that has received is an issue increasingly present in everyday life in Brazil. The Consumer Protection Code (CDC), besides condemning the practice, provides compensation twice for consumers harmed by the practice.
The CDC is clear about how the collection should be done and establishes measures for when the collector infringe consumer rights. Article 42 states that "in the collection of debts, the delinquent consumer will not be exposed to ridicule, or be subjected to any type of embarrassment or threat." And the sole paragraph provides that "the consumer be charged on undue amount has the right to repeat the magpie, by an amount equal to twice what it paid in excess, plus monetary restatement and legal interest, unless justifiable error hypothesis".
According to the coordinator of Procon Ribeirao Preto, Paul Garde, there are three main hypotheses that characterize the practice. "Sets misappropriation at the time you charge a service that was not provided, a situation that you have already paid, and merchandise was not delivered," he explains.
Unauthorized debit, billing services and unauthorized collection of unsolicited services are the most common examples of the practice that has become common and harms the consumer which, often do not know how to proceed.
What to do?
Garde explains that the first step to solve the problem is to look for the supplier. "First contact the company to warn being charged services that were not rendered and then look for the Procon for prosecutions."
The return values double is ensured by the CDC, but it will only happen if it is done the wrong payment, the simple irregular collection does not make right. "This right is only about what was charged more, not the full amount of the invoice," explains Procon coordinator.
The supplier has the right to conduct debt collection, however, is illegal expose the debtor to ridicule or submit it to any type of embarrassment or threat.
According to Fernando Correa da Silva, lawyer specializing in business law, debt issue must be resolved directly with the consumer. "The user name must not appear in registries of protest, SPC (credit bureau), Serasa or any other database that accuse how poorly paying."
Source: Idec
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.