Karin Basenach, director of the European Consumer Centre, which marked 30 years at an event last year. Library photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

Karin Basenach, director of the European Consumer Centre, which marked 30 years at an event last year. Library photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

The European Consumer Centre Luxembourg in 2021 helped claim back €776,000 from companies in disputes with customers.

The centre forms part of a European network of consumer protection offices where citizens can lodge complaints in for cross-border disputes.

It has more than doubled the sums recovered for consumers since 2019, when it claimed back €387,000, with the pandemic seeing a rise in disputes, for example over cancelled holidays or events.

In 2020, the centre recovered around €547,000, with another 42% increase last year. The office treated nearly 4,000 cases in 2021, with a team of seven legal advisers providing support to consumers.

Cases must relate to a cross-border dispute for the ECC network to intervene. In other cases, national offices will help consumers, which in Luxembourg is the consumer union UCL.

Before the ECC steps in, consumer must have failed to resolve a dispute with the company directly.

On average, the ECC is successful in 60% of cases it processes, the centre said in a press release on Wednesday.