CICLE-X: making the complaints system faster, stronger and easier for consumers
This month our members Altroconsumo, OCU and Testachats / Testaankoop celebrated the completion of a three year project to supercharge direct consumer complaints into real change in the marketplace.
The project built on the successful development of the CICLE complaints platform which combined a simpler consumer complaints interface with back-end functionality to aggregate all of this rich data into a single dashboard.
CICLE-X took things further, making use of AI and digital tools to automate the analysis of the incoming consumer complaints data and identify patterns of malpractice across countries and sectors.
Once this rich dataset was in place, continually fed with real time data from almost 380,000 consumers and supported by automated technology, our members were able to spot patterns and problems at speed.
Another objective of the CICLE-X project was to make the platform available to consumer organizations in other member states through rolling out a lighter version of the tool.
The tools implemented by UFC Que Choisir in France, ZPS in Slovenia and SOS in Slovakia will deliver a free, easy way for millions more consumers across the three countries to resolve disputes with companies.
They also offer the consumer organisations a simple way to collate data on complaints that can be channeled to national authorities or fed into cross-EU actions if necessary.
The hope is that the CICLE-X platform will help to close the long-standing gap between consumers experiencing a problem and getting a solution. Those solutions can be reached by different routes.
The company route sees the platform connect together firms and consumers to help resolve disputes at their source. This also gives them direct insight into where structural issues might be causing customers’ problems, and by responding and resolving things quickly, improves their reputation.
See how CICLE-X links up companies, consumers and consumer organisations in this short video
The event heard from online mattress company Emma Sleep, Belgian telco Proximus and UnipolMove, a supplier of contactless toll road payment who talked about their engagement with CICLE-X:
“It began as a brand awareness and marketing tool for us to reach out to more customers, but now it works as a way for us to pinpoint issues at the operational level. By providing a voice for the customer and it also enables us to become a much more customer-centric company”
Susana de Almeida, Customer Excellence Team Lead at Emma Sleep
Euroconsumers and its members are keen to actively demonstrate that a complaint doesn’t equal a battle, but rather an opportunity to find solutions together and avoid escalation.
“Consumers can be empowered to raise complaints and communicate with companies to resolve them quickly, which in turn will improve the market as companies wake up to the competitive advantage of being responsive and consumer-centered businesses.”
Els Bruggeman, Euroconsumers Group Manager Policy, Enforcement and Communication
Another route to redress opens up when consumer complaints reveal clear and repeated breaches of consumer regulations which companies fail to respond to.
This is where Euroconsumers and its members will take action: investigating problems in more detail, going directly to court, reporting the facts to the national authorities and coordinating reports to EU level bodies.
Here’s some of the enforcement actions our members in Belgium, Italy and Spain have taken, all using consumer complaints data and analysis from CICLE-X:
Ryanair: multiple passenger complaints led to an analysis of contract terms which revealed unlawful charges for carry-on luggage and a lack of price transparency during booking. Three complaints were filed to the Economic Inspectorate and an injunction was filed, the court has now confirmed that several of the airline’s sales practices misled consumers, distorted competition and breached consumer protection rules throughout the booking process.
Booking.com: Tesachats/Testaankoop filed a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority against Booking.com after identifying a fraud involving hacked hotel profiles and fake hotels and advertisements, linked to GDPR breaches.
Stellantis group: on behalf of Italian Citroën and Opel owners, Altroconsumo launched a class action and injunction against the companies to claim compensation for drivers unable to use their cars due to dangerously faulty Takata airbags.
Talea Group: following a complaint based on consumer data, the Italian Competition Authority has imposed a 2 million euro fine on the Talea Group SpA who are involved in the online sale of parapharmaceuticals and over-the-counter medicines due to unfair commercial practices on availability and delivery times of its online products.
Farmaferoles: OCU filed an injunction against the pharmacy chain for unfair commercial practices on availability and delivery times of its online products. As a result, the Court ordered the company to improve its service, review and remedy complaints and join the Consumer Arbitration System.
AllZone: online distribution company All Zone failed to deliver products on time and often delayed reimbursements. OCU has filed a conciliation in Court, seeking an agreement to compensate affected consumers.
These national successes and attempts to co-ordinate across border highlighted the need for stronger, more centralised EU enforcement on consumer protection as the Head of EU Grants Program Luisa Crisigiovanni explains:
“In a single market, where consumers can easily buy across borders they should equally be able to easily get redress across borders. But, enforcement remains fragmented and slow across national authorities when addressing EU-wide issues. The effectiveness of coordinated actions should be reinforced by strengthening the link with private enforcement and consumer redress mechanisms, supported by data generated through consumer complaints.”
Timely and visible consumer law enforcement is a key priority, especially in times of economic uncertainty, without it the incentives to act responsibly are lowered.
We are already seeing how strong channels of high quality data, plus improved analysis can help deepen insight into consumers’ experiences. This signals to companies that poor practice will no longer slip under the radar and to consumers that their voices matter.
Addressing systemic issues across borders is the next major challenge – and one that greater engagement with alternative dispute resolution and consumer organisations’ complaints tools and datasets like CICLE-X can make a major contribution to.
The project ran from 2023 to 2026 and is part funded by the European Union (GA 1011022299).
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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