Information of interest for consumers affected by the closure of Funnydent dental clinics
Post: Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition
Date: 03 February 2016
Section: Consume
What can I do?
Gather all information on the relevant treatments: publicity, contracts signed and, where relevant, financing agreements; invoices and receipts for payments made.
Who do I contact?
Users affected can contact city council information offices, Directorates-General for Consumer Affairs in the Autonomous Communities, or one of the consumers’ and users’ associations that exist in Spain, to request information and file their claims.
Affected people who wish to file claims independently must forward a complaint to the clinic by a means of which evidence may by kept (a letter with acknowledgement of receipt, with the subject “breach of contract”), demanding that the conditions of the contract be met, and that should this not happen, that it be terminated with the return of the sums paid and, where applicable, that compensation be paid for damages caused.
What can I do if I applied for credit?
In addition to writing to the company, users who are paying through associated credit must also make recorded contact with the financial institution, supplying evidence of the prior complaint made to the clinic. Users should notify them that in the light of the interrupted treatments, they request the cancellation of the contract and return of the amounts paid. This may be in full or in part, depending on whether the payments need to be restarted with other centres and on the cost of this.
Consumer credit legislation establishes that those who offer credit linked to the rendering of a service must allow users the termination of a contract in the event that it is breached, in such a way that they may stop making payments and recover all or part of the money already paid.
If the organisation refuses to comply with the request to cancel pending payment, users must request an official complaint form, which they must present, duly completed, to the credit organisation.
Restricted-use credit agreements are regulated in Spain by Law 16/2011, of 24 June, concerning consumer credit contracts.
What are restricted-use consumer credit agreements?
A restricted use credit agreement is a contract in which the credit contracted is used exclusively to finance a contract relating to the supply of specific goods or the rendering of specific services; both contracts constitute a single commercial product from an objective point of view.
The consumer and user, in addition to being able to exercise against the supplier of the goods or services the relevant rights acquired through a restricted use credit agreement, may exercise the same rights against the lender, as long as all of the following requirements are met:
a) The goods or services subject to the contract have not been delivered in full or in part, or do not meet the conditions of the contract.
b) The consumer has lodged a complaint judicially or extrajudicially, through any means allowed by law, against the supplier and has not obtained the satisfaction to which he/she is entitled.