READ CATALAN VERSION
The Catalan Consumer Agency, of the Department of Business and Work, offers an alternative to the court system to resolve conflicts that may arise between consumers and companies, when buying a product or hiring a service.
These alternative conflict resolution mechanisms are mediation and consumer arbitration, which allow consumer complaints to be resolved through a voluntary, agile, simple, free, objective and impartial procedure.
Mediation and arbitration offer advantages and benefits for both consumers and companies. On the one hand, companies and professionals who decide to resolve claims in this way offer additional credibility, trust and peace of mind to their clientele. On the other hand, consumers who choose companies that accept these extrajudicial conflict resolution mechanisms have the guarantee and commitment that the establishment will agree to resolve any conflict that may arise.
Mediation simply consists of helping both parties to bring positions together and find an agreed solution or, in other words, a friendly solution agreed between the consumer and the company, completely freely and without any imposition. If this route is successful, the claim is closed with an agreement through mediation.
In the case of arbitration, as it is also a voluntary route, it is necessary that the company adhere to the consumer arbitration system or agree to submit that specific case to arbitration.
The fundamental difference between mediation and arbitration is that when a case is submitted to arbitration, the solution is not freely agreed between the parties, but rather there is an arbitration body that, after listening to both versions and analyzing the evidence that they can provide, On the one hand, the consumer and on the other, the company, make a decision that is mandatory. This decision is materialized in a document called an arbitration award and which has exactly the same effect as a court ruling.
Therefore, when a case is resolved by arbitration, it is no longer possible to resort to judicial means.
1. The conflict appears and consumers complain to the company with which they made the purchase or contract.
2. If the consumer does not obtain a satisfactory response from the company, he or she may request mediation from the public consumer service.
3. The company accepts the intervention and both parties present allegations and relevant documentation.
4. If an agreement satisfactory to both parties is reached, the conflict ends.
5. If an agreement is not reached, the case can be submitted to the Consumer Arbitration Board.
6. The Board listens to both parties, analyzes the evidence and resolves the conflict impartially and in the most fair manner.
7. The Board issues an award that is binding, cannot be appealed and has the same effects as a court ruling.
More information at consum.gencat.cat
