FACUA, Consumidores en Acción, has filed a complaint with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the department that directs Alberto Garzonto the multinational MSC Cruises for including in the price charged to users a “hotel service fee” which, as it seems to emerge from his web tip, would correspond to a Mandatory tip for staff in charge of accommodating guests.
The association has requested the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to investigate the facts denounced and initiate a disciplinary file against MSC Cruises, understanding that it could be an abusive clause that goes against the rights of consumers.
In this regard, FACUA has recalled that “customers are forced to pay an extra amount for a concept that does not correspond to any good or service they have purchased, but is a cost that the company imposes as a tip on users in a totally arbitrary and unilateral to cover a personnel expense that must be borne exclusively by the company”.
The association recalls that, in any case, the tip is an extra amount of money which the client has the power to contribute as a gratuity to the workers, but under no circumstances can the company force the user to pay it.
Article 89 of Royal Decree Law 1/2007, of November 16, which approves the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, provides that “they are considered unfair terms (…) the imposition on the consumer and user of unsolicited complementary or accessory goods and services”, and adds: “price increases for accessory services, financing, deferrals, surcharges, compensation or penalties that do not correspond to additional benefits susceptible to be accepted or rejected in each case expressed with due clarity or separation”.