Imposing additional services - official information

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Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksimov, Advocate. Work experience over 25 years Zimina Maria KirillovnaAdvocate. Work experience more than 15 years Eremin Vladimir TimofeevichAdvocate. More than 10 years of experience

In the modern world of competition, a huge selection of goods and services, the vast majority of companies, trying to increase their profits, strive to impose on us a product that is not in demand or an unpopular service. And, as a rule, they do this not always legally.

When a service can be considered imposed

The most striking illustration of a violation of consumer interests is considered to be an imposed service. Imposition of services is forcing the consumer to endorse an oral or written agreement to purchase, in addition to the necessary goods or services, an additional paid benefit.

Despite the fact that civil and consumer legislation provides freedom in concluding agreements and prohibits the obligation to buy a product or service together with another, the buyer often has to face the situation of imposing additional services.

The imposition manifests itself in the following:

providing advantages to one buyer over another in the event that the former purchases additional goods or services;
deprivation of the buyer of certain benefits if he refuses to accept the added product;
refusal to sell a proper product without a by-product. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between imposed service and promotions;
requirement for subsequent service or purchase of components only from specified persons;
imposing a set of services that are inherently independent of each other and can be provided separately;

Note! The service will be imposed if the loan agreement is conditional on the purchase of additional insurance. If a credit institution considers the purchase of a protection package against any circumstances as a separate type of service, this situation will be legal.

There are many examples of imposed services:

insurance when concluding a loan agreement;
mobile connection;
inclusion in the contract of additional parts related to housing and communal services;
notarial or other with paid technical support;
paid optional medical services.

Remember! The patient’s response to doctors’ proposal to provide paid medical services must be properly documented in writing. In this case, the offer itself is not considered an imposition of additional services.

Prohibited! Perform additional services and work for a fee without the client’s consent.

Quite often, warranty promises are constructed in such a way that the buyer is involuntarily forced to contact only a categorical company, otherwise he will be denied service. The consumer has the right not to pay for them. And if the amount has already been paid, demand a refund.

What should you do when you are given no choice and are asked to pay?

It appears that this issue can be addressed by the patient when emergency or emergency medical care is not required. The solution to this question depends on who is offering to pay for your treatment: the attending physician in a personal conversation or the hospital official charged with concluding medical contracts (this is a special administrative position).

If your attending physician offers to transfer money to you, you must contact the hospital administration (the chief physician, the head of the medical unit). Currently, hospital administrations are fighting bribes and are determined to prevent this type of situation. At the same time, keep in mind that both giving and receiving a bribe are criminally punishable.

If an authorized person of the hospital offers you to enter into a paid medical contract without the opportunity to choose, you have the right to contact Rospotrebnadzor, an insurance company, or law enforcement agencies.

How can a consumer protect himself from the imposition of services?

The only effective method of protecting yourself from an unnecessary “package of offers” is to refuse them. If you had to pay for something you don’t need at all, there is always the possibility of compensation or invalidation of the contract.

Before using the service you should:

carefully analyze the terms of the contract;
show interest in unclear points, detail them;
When offering additional services, inquire about the possibility of declining them.

If disagreements arise, contact your manager personally to resolve the issue. If this method does not turn out to be effective, then feel free to express your dissatisfaction with government agencies:

Rospotrebnadzor is the main regulatory body protecting consumer rights;
the prosecutor's office is a supervisory structure for compliance with laws and human rights with a wide range of powers. However, due to the fact that the range of possibilities for bringing to justice directly by the prosecutor is conditional and limited, redirection to other structures often occurs;
Federal Antimonopoly Service, which is responsible for maintaining order in the financial sector. Specifically controls the ratio of the amounts of payments collected from the consumer to the level established by legislative acts;
the court is the final authority called upon to resolve the conflict between the consumer and the service provider.

Arbitrage practice

The precedents that have emerged in the course of judicial activity make it possible to highlight the basic procedure for the protection of infringed rights:

restoration of violated rights by invalidating the contract containing the imposed service;
reimbursement of expenses incurred;
punishment of attackers through state coercion.

Being in a position more dependent on circumstances, the consumer must understand that providing complete information about a product (service) prevents the bulk of violations, and protecting rights by professional methods helps to compensate for material and moral damage.

This point is often interpreted very arbitrarily by managers. A citizen who does not understand the law will not always be able to recognize a forgery, so it is better to turn to lawyers.

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How to file a complaint

A complaint about the imposition of additional services must contain:

the name and full attributes of the body to which it is addressed;
mandatory personal data of the applicant. Otherwise, according to anonymous statements, Rospotrebnadzor, like other bodies, will refuse to carry out an inspection and, as a result, it will be almost impossible to reimburse the expenses incurred;
full details of the offending organization;
description of the violation;
information about witness, documentary or other evidence would be useful;
requirements for a violator who has violated the law;
date and signature.

It is advisable to attach copies of contracts, receipts, audio and video recordings to the complaint.

What is the time frame for bringing a violator to justice? Since solicitation of services is not a continuing offense, the culprit is subject to administrative punishment within a year from the date of its commission.

Responsibility

This is an administrative offense. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for criminal liability for this act. Damages caused are recovered through civil proceedings.

Administrative responsibility is indicated by parts 1 and 2 of Article 14.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Punishment in the form of a fine is imposed on an official from 500 to 2000 rubles, and on an organization - from 5000 to 20,000 rubles.

Civil liability arises under Article 393 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in the form of compensation for losses for all expenses incurred, including lost profits. The size and existence of costs must be proven by the buyer (customer).

The company's tricks when trying to get a refund for a car card

If, in the case of imposed insurance, you can use the “cooling off period” provided for by the current Directive of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and return the entire amount within 14 days, then the principles of interaction with the contractor during subscriber services, which involve purchasing a card, are somewhat different.
In particular, having studied in detail one of the company’s public offer agreements, we find clause 6.3, which says: “ In the event of termination of this Agreement at the initiative of one of the Parties, the party initiating the termination undertakes to send written notice of this to the other Party at least 10 (ten ) calendar days before the expected date of termination of the Agreement. Upon termination of the Agreement, the Contractor shall return part of the paid premium to the Customer in the amount of 10% of the cost of services specified in clause 3.2. when the Agreement is valid for up to one month. The specified amount is reduced by 5% for each subsequent month of the Agreement, with an incomplete month being taken as a full one.”

Thus, even having responded to an attempt to deceive in a relatively timely manner, the client can only hope for a small refund of the funds spent, and after 3 months of the agreement, the refund amount will be 0%.

As an example, we have given one of the clauses of the “Public Offer Agreement”; for different products there are different “Public Offer Agreements” and in different editions - follow the current version of the agreement related to the service you purchased.

But even taking into account the high level of thoughtfulness of the document drawn up, it is possible to fully return the funds for the imposed product. Next we will look at how to do this legally.

File a claim in court

A statement of claim can be filed in court at the location of the defendant (that is, a medical organization), at the place of residence or stay of the plaintiff (patient) or at the place of conclusion or execution of the contract (Article 17 of the Law of 02/07/1992 N 2300-1; Part. 7 Article 29 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). The subject of the claim should be a claim for compensation for the amount of money paid for medical services provided, the provision of which, in the plaintiff’s opinion, should have been provided free of charge in accordance with the state guarantee program.

Going to court can be considered as an independent way of protecting a violated right, but it should be remembered that the conclusions received from the CMO, prosecutors, and the territorial body of Rospotrebnadzor on relevant pre-trial appeals will significantly facilitate the process of proof in court.

Contact your health insurance company

If the management of a hospital or other institution claims that this service can only be provided to you for a fee, contact the health insurance organization or the territorial compulsory medical insurance fund and ask them for information about the same service. The appeal may be written or oral.

As a rule, specialists from the health insurance organization and the territorial compulsory medical insurance fund can quickly explain whether a particular medical service is included in the program of state guarantees of free medical care (basic and territorial).

The patient or his representative has the right to file a complaint with the health insurance service regarding the availability of medical care in a medical organization with a requirement to conduct a targeted medical and economic examination on this complaint (clause “c” of paragraph 14 of the Procedure, approved by Order of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund dated 01.12.2010 N 230) .

The results of a medical and economic examination, documented in the relevant act, are the basis for taking measures against a medical organization that refused free medical care to a patient.

Measures applied to a medical organization may be provided for by the legislation on compulsory health insurance in the Russian Federation, the terms of the contract for the provision and payment of medical care under compulsory medical insurance and the List of grounds for refusing to pay for medical care (reducing payment for medical care) (Appendix 8 to Procedure No. 230). In addition, the results of a medical and economic examination may be the basis for conducting an examination of the quality of medical care (Part 9 of Article 40, Article 41 of Law No. 326-FZ; Appendix 8 to Procedure No. 230).