COVID-19: Record number of complaints in March 2020

The European Consumer Centres (ECCs) are EU co-funded bodies providing advice and assistance to EU citizens about their consumer rights in cross-border shopping in the Single Market.

In March 2020 they answered 15,000 consumer queries, many of which related to the impact of coronavirus on a service or a good they purchased. This is around 5,000 more queries than the same month in 2019. The weekly trends recorded since the beginning of the year have increased continuously since mid-February.

The major areas affected are passenger transport, accommodation services (such as hotels and B&Bs), and package holidays; but many other business sectors are also generating consumer queries related to the pandemic.

Graph showing business sectors generating most coronavirus queries

Data relates to queries received before 30th April 2020.