Air travel tops complaints list

More than 3,300 consumers contacted the ECC Ireland last year for help in getting redress from cross-European traders.

The centre is part of a European-wide network of centres which can intervene to help customers resolve problems with purchases from another member state.

Some 40pc of those who needed help had difficulties with their air passenger rights, the ECC said in its annual report due to be published today.

This included an Irish woman whose 16-year-old daughter had been refused boarding with a Spanish airline because the flight was overbooked.

The girl was offered a flight for the next day but was not given accommodation, meals or telephone calls as required under EU regulations, with the airline only offering flight vouchers of an unspecified value as compensation.

ECC Ireland liaised with its sister office in Spain and secured €250 in compensation for the teenager.

Another major problem with air travel involved airlines' terms, fees and policies, including technical difficulties while booking online – a problem which has been growing steadily in recent years, the ECC said.

Damaged, delayed and lost luggage as well as baggage policy were also major sources of complaint.

In total, the ECC Ireland secured €112,000 in compensation for consumers last year – up 40pc on the previous year.

After airlines, the top areas of complaint were electronic goods, car rental, entertainment and faulty furniture.

Problems with car rental included supplementary charges imposed subsequently by the hire firm alleging damage to the vehicle or missing parts.

The inadvertent purchase of credits for online games was an emerging area of complaints, particularly where the player was a minor who did not have the capacity to understand what they were doing.

In one case, ECC Ireland secured over €2,700 for a grandfather whose young grandson ran up a bill for over €4,000 on his credit card by buying credits for a computer game on an Irish social media website.

The grandfather had only given authorisation for an amount of €15.32 to allow the boy purchase credits, but hadn't managed to obtain a refund until the centre intervened.

ECC Ireland said that, overall, there had been a 9.6pc decrease in complaints compared to 2011, which it attributed to the difficult economic situation and drop in disposable incomes.

However, it said that some 60pc of the cases it had dealt with had been successfully resolved.