2023-04-22 16:20:07
A company was sentenced to pay an exemplary fine for violating consumer rights with confusing contracts and misleading . The first instance sentence was confirmed and increased by the Roca Appeals Chamber, which raised the fine for punitive damage to 5 million pesos.
As demonstrated by the consumer, The entire business assembly simulated the offer of a savings plan for the purchase of a van, but in reality it was a “capitalization and savings title”, which is another type of contract. However, all the publicity and advice they gave you concerned the delivery of vehicles.
Definitely, the contract the man signed did not guarantee him any vehicle at the end of the 72 installments. The business only gave him a few chances to be raffled to obtain the Toyota Hilux he wanted as a “prize”. And as if that were not enough, it established that if at the end of the quotas it had not been raffled, the saved capital would be returned plus an interest rate much lower than any of those existing in the current market, so the value of what was saved for the man throughout 72 months was seriously liquefied by the inflationary process.
The decision of the Civil Court No. 31 of Choele Choel, now confirmed by the Chamber, declared “the nullity of the contract since it is evident that the will of the actor has been vitiated by error and fraud.” According to the Civil and Commercial Code, it is considered that there is fraud when one of the parties seriously deceives or confuses the other using “any artifice, cunning or machination” that leads them to believe that something that is false is true, or vice versa.
For the court, the company Podersa SA intentionally confused the customer to obtain “disproportionate advantages”. The affected party demonstrated “that he was never properly informed of the true contracting conditions.”
As assessed in the ruling, the company’s website and display “photos of smiling people positioned in front of different vehicles, which a priori leads one to think that they have been awarded such goods.”
In addition, the documentation says “Dealership Podesa SA”, and that “induces one to assume that one is in the presence of a dealership or car agency.” And also, an adviser wrote down the client details of the supposed delivery of the van, the “draw, tender or leasing” system and the “freight and patenting” expenses. “All this information provided by the seller leads one to think that a savings plan is being contracted for the purchase of a vehicle,” the sentence stressed.
The company “failed to act in good business faith, violating the duty to inform in a clear, precise, detailed manner, causing the consumer to make an error, who deceived signed a contract whose object was not really intended, “he added.
maximum fine
The Chamber raised the fine for punitive damage from 2 to 5 million pesos, which was the maximum amount provided by the Consumer Defense Law at the time of the fact that was judged. That cap is currently higher, because the law was changed in December 2022.
The basis for the fine was that “clearly the defendant carries out a whole activity with contracts with unclear and abusive clauses, accompanied by misleading to deceive, making potential interested parties believe that what it offers is or resembles one of the savings contracts for the purchase of vehicles, when in reality these have more characteristics of a lottery, since the possibility of getting one by such means is quite remote and as if that were not enough, the return on the investment is far from approaching -at constant or real values- what was disbursed. Even more so in the context of inflationary processes like the ones we are going through. Crumbs are returned to him ”.
For the Court, the million-dollar fine is “reasonable with the seriousness of the conduct carried out by the defendant.” “These companies operate with the money of those who in good faith believe they are saving, obtaining significant profits at their expense”said the House.
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