Our complaint form explained
(opens in new window)
General information
We will be happy to answer your general enquiry or help you enforce your claims against a foreign company. However, we can only take action if the following applies:
- You are living in Austria.
- You need support as a consumer against a company. The specific problem does not concern any business activity on your part and is not a problem with another private individual.
- The question or problem concerns a company abroad, not in Austria.
- The company abroad must have its registered office in the European Economic Area (EEA). This includes all other EU countries, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom. We do not work for companies with headquarters in Austria, the USA, China, Turkey, Switzerland, etc., even if the company has a branch in the EU. Even if this company has a branch in the EU.
- If you want us to intervene on your behalf, you have already complained to the company in writing and have been unsuccessful. We need this rejected or unanswered written complaint.
- We only work out of court. You are not yet represented by a lawyer and the matter is not yet in court.
HERE 💡 we provide information on where you can find help if these points do not apply and give tips on how best to prepare your case so that we can process it as quickly as possible.
Step 1 - Personal details
Firstly, you must enter your personal data in the input screen. This data will only be automatically transferred to the EU database of the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) in the very last step. Your entries will be used there for case processing. Read more in our privacy policy.
Step 2 - Trader details
On the second page of the input screen, you will be asked to enter the company for which you have a question or complaint.
If you only have a general question that does not concern a specific company, please simply enter "general question" or something similar in the mandatory field "Company name" so that you can continue.
Step 3 - Form details: Do you have a question or complaint?
Depending on whether you have a question or a complaint, the input screen requires different entries from this third step onwards:
I have a question:
Do you want to order something from a foreign company or do you have a general question? We will be happy to inform you about your EU rights as a consumer. To do this, select "Enquiry" here and type your question in the field below.
I have a complaint and need help:
If you would like us to support you against a problematic company, please select "Complaint". You will then be asked to confirm three questions. These check whether we are responsible.
Step 4 - with questions: Insert documents
If you previously selected "Question" in step 3, you can now upload invoices, photos, screenshots or similar that relate to your question in step 4 in the input screen. This is not mandatory, but will make our answer more accurate.
Step 4 - with complaints: Facts and cicumstances
If you previously selected "Complaint" in step 3, please briefly describe the problem that prompted you to make the complaint in the three text fields in step 4 of the input screen. Below this, write what you would like to achieve. In the bottom field, write what you have tried to do about the matter so far.
Step 5 - with questions: Confirm and send
If you previously selected "Enquiry" in step 3, you can complete your entries in the input screen in this final fifth step by confirming your consent to data protection.
We are asked a lot of questions every day and answer them as soon as we receive them. We therefore ask for your patience until we get back to you. You will receive a ticket number by email (e.g. ECCAT-12345). If there are any queries, please quote this number.
Step 5 - with complaints: Complaint data
If you previously selected "Complaint" in step 3, you can enter details of the order to the problematic company in the input screen in step 5. In particular about the payment and the assignment of your order. When we contact companies on your behalf, they are more likely to respond if order numbers or similar are available. Therefore, please enter your customer number, booking number, order number or similar in the "reference field". In this way, the case can be clearly assigned and is more likely to be resolved.
Step 6 - with complaints: Attach documents
If you previously selected "Complaint" in step 3, you must upload the following documents (if available) in step 6 of the input screen:
- Proof of payment: Invoice or booking confirmation or similar from the problematic company
- Proof of damage: e.g. photos of the defective goods or defective service, bank statement of the unjustified debit, screenshot of the non-functioning application, etc.
- Correspondence with the problematic company: Please organise this correspondence with your original complaint to the company and what was communicated afterwards in chronological order and save it in a single document before uploading it.
- Power of attorney: In this step 6, we also require signed authorisation for some companies to intervene on your behalf. Check the legal notice on the company's website to see whether the company is based in Germany, Luxembourg or Sweden. For other countries, you can complete the authorisation from ECC Austria.
If the company is based in Germany (e.g. TUI, Lufthansa, Copecart,...), please fill in the power of attorney from ECC Germany. For problems with Klarna, please use the power of attorney from ECC Sweden. If it concerns Amazon or Paypal, please use the power of attorney from ECC Luxembourg. For Dr.Smile problems, please upload the completed release from medical confidentiality in addition to the German power of attorney.
Step 7 - with complaints: Confirm and send
If you previously selected "Complaint" in step 3, you can finalise your entries in the input screen in the last 7th step by confirming your consent to data protection.
We receive many complaints every day and process them as they are received. We therefore ask for your patience until we get back to you. We will register your complaint and process it together with the ECC of the country in which the problematic company is based. The two ECCs will then work together to try to persuade the company concerned to give in. You will be notified by email and given a ticket number (e.g. ECCAT-12345). If there are any queries, please quote this number.
Share this post
