Many consumers turn to the European Consumer Centre Austria (ECC) with claims about the firm Exklusiv Touristik s.r.o. & Co., k.s. It is situated in Bratislava and offers several coach tours. The legal experts of ECC Austria already know the firm as well, as consumers reported in the past years that they sometimes didn't provide promised services or couldn't offer dates for journeys and just told them to wait for possible new dates in the following year.
Law firm commissioned
In the current cases reported to ECC Austria, consumers received a letter from a law firm "Onufer & Torišková" from Bratislava, telling that the firm Exklusiv Touristik already reminded them to pay the amount due several times and that the consumers are in default.
The claims concern allegedly booked journeys from the years 2012 and 2013. Back then, consumers participated in so called free promotional trips (mostly in Bratislava) and stated their interest in other journeys to an intermediary firm. This firm's name was "Exklusiv Touristik S.R.O + Co. Ks Reise Vermittlungsagentur" and had the same venue as the tour operator. For every journey, a fee for the intermediary was charged. Regardless of mentioned preferred dates, the consumers never received any travel documents, dates were either never confirmed or later cancelled due to a lack of participants.
The letters of the law firm therefore come as a complete surprise. With almost identical texts, they request the payment of a pending fee (deposit) for journeys not taken.
ECC Austria recommends:
- Don't pay the amount, but check beforehand whether there actually are any open contracts and if it is more likely that Exklusiv Touristik is in default with providing promised services (like offering a booked journey).
- Protest against the claim with a registered letter to the law firm and Exklusiv Touristik. Demand evidence that they already sent reminders and that the firm itself is not in default. You can use the sample letter of ECC Austria as a template (see attachment).
- Tell the firm and the law firm to cancel all alleged contracts, withdraw all reminders, refund the intermediary fee and to confirm all this within 14 days.
