Commercial “spin” irritates Portuguese consumers

The data was collected as part of the “Observatório de Práticas Comerciais Desleais” (Observatory on misleading commercial practices) – a project that ended at the end of last year, and in which eight European consumer associations took part.

The telecommunications business is one of the worst offenders.

One of the most common complaints was that the speed of access to the Internet in reality is less than half that publicised (and billed for) by the majority of electronic communications companies.

Airline companies are also less than transparent in their business dealings.

They publicise flight prices that very often don’t include taxes and extras.

And “aggressive sales” continue to reel-in victims.

The strategy is to offer a gift - which serves as a pretext to oblige people to attend meetings where they are practically forced to buy goods and services in very unfair conditions.

In the financial sector, the violation of the duty to inform is the most common misleading practice.

There are people who think they’re making a deposit on credit – but who later discover that they’ve lost the money in an investment fund…