Since June 2008, the French Civil Code reinforces consumer protection regarding Web purchasing. Internet commercial sites in France must:
* Indicate a precise delivery date at the moment of your order for any good or service. (Certain exceptions are noted below.)
* In case of late deliverty date the client is able to cancel the order and obtain full reimbursement of any payments already made.
* The consumer may also expect to have all charges reimbursed that are related to the purchase (the infamous "frais de dossier", for instance).
* The website is obliged to better inform the client on their right to retract/cancel the order and specify the cases in which this rule does not apply, namely, the purchase of fresh-foods, tourism, and tailor-made products.
* Place at the client's disposition a un-surtaxed hotline such that they may follow the progress of their order, cancel the order in case of delayed delivery or make use of the product's guaranty if the product is faulty.
If none of the above is cited clearly on a commercial website, you are well advised to look elsewhere for your purchases.
Note also that the better commercial websites are beginning to institute the practice of debiting your order, if made with a credit card, solely upon its expedition. However, such is not required by law.
The consumer association, Que Choisir, has also begun legal complaints against the following sites for irregulaties in their order processing: Maniaprice.com, Mondial-discount.com, Multidiscount.com and Showroom2001.com. As well, legal complaints have been deposed against these sites regarding delivery delays: CDiscount, Fashionshopping and Lemagiciendesprix. CDiscount is particularly targetted for its hard-sell approach that often included "flash sales" that had pricing more expensive than otherwise and discounts entailing only cents off the normal price. This web-retailer has been found guilty in the past for fraudulent commercial practices, particularly as regards reference prices that are supposedly discounted.
楼主 
