British TK-MAXX conducts an aggressive complaint policy in Poland, based on rejecting complaints submitted by customers.
On the example of one of the products, let’s follow the complaint process in Poland, which lasted over a year.

One client bought ski gloves from TK-MAXX in Kraków at the end of 2019. Gloves in winter got damaged while skiing, the seams broke. The customer submitted a complaint in the TK-MAX store, but it was rejected and the argument was given: “Mechanical damage, propagation, is not subject to complaint, functional values, in accordance with the contract, have been lost due to improper use”.

Such a basis for rejecting a complaint is an open mockery of the customer.

In such a situation, a consumer in Poland may apply to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, whose branches can be found in any large city. The application for decontamination of the complaint of ski gloves was sent to the division in Lodz city. Because the officials were afraid of some disease, they did not let anyone into the office and posted information on the door that all applications should be submitted via e-mail. So if someone does not have access to such a technique was excluded. The application to the office was submitted as expected, but it was never considered and the officials never replied to it.

The next step was to refer the case to the main branch of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Warsaw with the information about the lack of information from the office in Lodz. The central office indicated the need to refer the case to the local branch.

However, we managed to contact the Consumer e-Advice Center, which suggested submitting a complaint to the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Warsaw. The latter, however, also gave no answer.

In the next contact with the Consumer e-Advice Center, it was indicated to appeal to the seller of TK-MAXX gloves, referring to the article Art. 556 [2] of the Civil Code which clearly defines the complaint obligations of companies selling products in Poland.
TK-MAXX Poland did not react to the appeal submitted, only after the intervention, replied that it maintained its position of rejecting the complaint of damaged ski gloves, quotation: “We would also like to inform you that in accordance with the warranty law, the possibility of withdrawing from the contract exists only in the event of significant manufacturing defects of the products that are not repairable and do not allow further use of the goods.”

Re-contact with the Consumer E-Advice Center and another suggestion to report this matter to another office, which is the local branch of the Trade Inspection. In response, the Trade Inspection presented solutions from which the option of an arbitration court was selected. In November, the relevant documents were submitted to the arbitration court at the Trade Inspection in Lodz.

In December 2020, the Trade Inspection replied that the TK-MAXX Poland seller did not respond to the submitted application and that the case was discontinued under Polish law. It was only in January 2021 that the client decided to contact an expert and obtain an opinion that stated the defect of the threads used in the glove. Here, TK-MAXX Poland could not manipulate the client for her and decided to accept the complaint.

What can we learn from this consumer adventure? First of all, that the offices in Poland created to protect consumers are worthless. They don’t help in anything special. These offices are yet another recipient of tax money, offering the public nothing in return. Many sellers are aware of the weakness of consumer defense and, like TK-MAXX Poland, implements a defense policy against complaints to the detriment of consumers and without any consequences for themselves. TK-MAXX Poland was not fined after the glove incident. And subsequent customers will receive negative complaints with no consequences for the seller. (Brux)

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BRUXnews
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