Refurbished: UFC-Que Choisir files a complaint against Back Market

UFC-Que Choisir will file a complaint today against Back Market, a company specializing in the resale of refurbished electronic objects. He is blamed “many breaches of consumer law”.

UFC-What to choose tackles Back Market

The complaint for misleading commercial practices must be filed before the Paris court, Explain UFC-Que Choisir, which indicates that “if the circular economy must be encouraged, it must still respect the fundamental rights of consumers”.

The consumer association criticizes several practices at the French company. For example, it is accused of making customers believe that they are getting a good deal by displaying the selling price of the refurbished product next to the price of the new product, when the latter is not sold on the site. “It’s not about promotions”, underlines the association. It also denounces service fees systematically charged to consumers, which can reach 5.99 euros, and which only appear at the payment stage.

Finally, Back Market offers consumers a 12-month contractual warranty, suggesting an advantage offered by the company, when in reality this warranty is imposed by law, but mainly lasts 24 months, including for products refurbished.

Market leader

UFC-Que Choisir specifies that this is the first complaint in Europe by a consumer association against the refurbished giant, even if it has already been singled out by other associations, such as VZBV in Germany. And the president of UFC-Que Choisir, Alain Bazot, explains that the association “wishes that the reconditioned unicorn continues to put glitter in the lives of consumers, without its communication being just window dressing”.

Back Market was created in 2014 and has established itself since its creation as the essential place for refurbished electronics. In January, the company raised 450 million euros, a financing round which then propelled it, with a capitalization of 5.1 billion euros, to the podium of French unicorns. It then had more than 650 employees and planned to recruit 400 in 2022.