ECC misleading headline:1 in 3 goods fail to arrive when shopping online

In fairness to the Irish Office the misleading statement seems to derive from the [broken link removed]
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In fairness, Irish Office were one of a few offices affiliated to ECC-NET that contributed to the report

In fairness, we all read it, and wondered what the heck are they on about.

No reason to let them off the hook. It is simply daft.
 
Re: ECC misleading headline:1 in 3 goods DO NOT fail to arrive when shopping online

nt00deep said:
That was the headline this morning on the radio, and I waited, and waited, and waited for the correction. It did not materialise.

Here is a snip from an email I sent to the European Consumer Centre asking for clarification on their press release and interview on Morning Ireland.

"I heard with amazement this morning that one third of goods ordered online in the EU are not delivered. This was the opening of the interview on Morning Ireland. I awaited a correction, but it did not materialise, altough I did sense from the interviewee that in fact the "one third" phrase referred to one third of cases/complaints handled by ECC related to non-delivery.

I heard a similarly misleading opening statement on the Ryan Tubridy show, but did not get a chance to hear the piece in full.

I had a look at your press release this morning and indeed your fine report, and I have reached the same conclusion I reached after listening to the piece on Morning Ireland. It would appear that one third of cases/complaints handled by ECC relate to non-delivery, but it is not correct to extrapolate this to conclude that one third of all goods ordered online are not delivered, because account is not taken of the number of online orders for which case/complaint are not referred to yourselves (which I can only assume are positive experiences for the most part).

If my reading of your data is correct, then the headline quoted on your website and on the radio media this morning is misleading. A logical interpretation of the headline would be that of the 318,000 consumers shopping online in 2005, over 100,000 of them had experienced a failure to deliver. Clearly that is a shock statistic, and I don't believe it for a minute.

Instead of the headline "1 in 3 goods fail to arrive when shopping online" would it not be correct to say "1 in 3 complaints re: shopping online relate to delivery failure".

I am amazed that none of the media organisations that carried the story picked up on this.

Can you confirm that my understanding of the data in your report is correct and that we do not have a 33% failure rate when ordering online.

I should say that I have no affiliation to any online businesses, but I do work in the IT industry. My interest here is as an interested shopper, rather than as a worried trader."

(end quote)

If anyone is interested in looking at this, the press release and report are here ...
[broken link removed]

I await clarification from ECC, but if my take is correct, I can't believe such a shock (and misleading) statistic was left stand. Just in case I don't get a response from ECC, I would be curious to hear if anyone heard the statistic being clarified/questioned/corrected in any other media outlets.
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Re: ECC misleading headline:1 in 3 goods DO NOT fail to arrive when shopping online

Just visited ECC Dublin to see what all the fuss was about and just noticed that the full title of the press release is "1 in 3 goods fail to arrive when shopping online, according to new ECC-Net Report
" If this report is based on consumer complaints why is everyone so upset. I just dont get it after taking the time to read the press release
 
Re: ECC misleading headline:1 in 3 goods DO NOT fail to arrive when shopping online

DWD,

That is precisely the point. The title is obscene. The report is about complaints, and the conclusion extends the findings to all goods ordered online.

To repeat the figures ...
318,000 consumers ordering online in Ireland.
Press Release and the report suggest 1 in 3 goods do not arrive.
That's > 100,000 dissatisfied customers.

The reality ...
222 complaints in Ireland.
75 relate to non-delivery
50 of them were not charged for the non delivered goods.

So, the problem that the report is trying to highlight is small in the overall context of the order-online community.

If the title of the press release and the discussions on the radio referred to complaints only, then this thread would not have started.
 
Re: ECC misleading headline:1 in 3 goods DO NOT fail to arrive when shopping online

podgerodge said:
Got a reply from Mary Denise O'Reilly of the ECC.

"Thank you for updating me on the discussion taking place on
www.askaboutmoney.com. We would be delighted to make a comment on this
site and will do so in due course"
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I have emailed Mary Denise O'Reilly and asked her will she be commenting.
 
In light of the ECC's (Dublin Office) failure to correct this headline does this cast doubt on other headlines and reports? Does it bring the entire agency into disrepute?

Does anyone know who regulates this agency? Is there an ombudsman or inspectorate who has oversight regarding the agency or can it do what it pleases?
 
ajapale said:
In light of the ECC's (Dublin Office) failure to correct this headline does this cast doubt on other headlines and reports?
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Yes - I think so. Then again, this doesn't surprise me - I've come across a number of their Press Releases in the last few years which I believe weren't entirely accurate either.

On the other hand, the newspapers do the same thing all the time.
 
CMCR said:
Yes - I think so. Then again, this doesn't surprise me - I've come across a number of their Press Releases in the last few years which I believe weren't entirely accurate either.

On the other hand, the newspapers do the same thing all the time.
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Probably because a lot of what passes for journalism is actually regurgitation of flawed and/or biased press releases especially when it comes to matters of personal finance, property etc. Just look at the newspaper property supplements for blatant examples of conflicts of interest (puff pieces on property whose developers advertise in the supplement) and lack of any critical editorial content. :(
 
ClubMan said:
Probably because a lot of what passes for journalism is actually regurgitation of flawed and/or biased press releases especially when it comes to matters of personal finance, property etc. Just look at the newspaper property supplements for blatant examples of conflicts of interest (puff pieces on property whose developers advertise in the supplement) and lack of any critical editorial content. :(
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Think you've put you're finger on it there Clubman, there seems to be no urge to be a journalist in the real sense of the word with everyday press releases.
 
Statement from the European Consumer Centre Dublin 12 July 2006
It is not the intention of ECC Dublin to mislead consumers. In fact the Centre actively promotes awareness of consumer rights in Ireland and assists consumers with problems they may have with cross-border purchases. In relation to shopping online we have produced an information guide on consumer rights when shopping on the internet and we provide helpful tips and advice on www.eccdublin.ie.

Over the past three years we have produced a report on the European online marketplace which is based on consumer complaints received by our Network. This Report is produced to highlight the problems facing consumers and encourage enforcement authorities to implement the relevant legislation and put rogue traders out of business. These actions, we believe, contribute favourably to making the online marketplace a safer place to shop.

As our release stated, 380,000 Irish consumers shopped online in 2005. Complaints received by ECC Dublin and the ECC Network represent a very small portion of online shoppers’ experiences. Nevertheless, it is important that these problems are highlighted so that consumers can become more informed and make better decisions. After all, an empowered consumer is good for business, because they shop more and wisely.
 
ECC Dublin said:
Statement from the European Consumer Centre Dublin 12 July 2006
It is not the intention of ECC Dublin to mislead consumers. In fact the Centre actively promotes awareness of consumer rights in Ireland and assists consumers with problems they may have with cross-border purchases. In relation to shopping online we have produced an information guide on consumer rights when shopping on the internet and we provide helpful tips and advice on www.eccdublin.ie.

Over the past three years we have produced a report on the European online marketplace which is based on consumer complaints received by our Network. This Report is produced to highlight the problems facing consumers and encourage enforcement authorities to implement the relevant legislation and put rogue traders out of business. These actions, we believe, contribute favourably to making the online marketplace a safer place to shop.

As our release stated, 380,000 Irish consumers shopped online in 2005. Complaints received by ECC Dublin and the ECC Network represent a very small portion of online shoppers’ experiences. Nevertheless, it is important that these problems are highlighted so that consumers can become more informed and make better decisions. After all, an empowered consumer is good for business, because they shop more and wisely.
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This statement seems vague to me. Is the ECC admitting the headline was misleading (albeit unintentionally)? If so why is it still on your website with the misleading headline [broken link removed]
 
ECC by their response are evading taking responsibility for a blatantly incorrect statement they made.

Regurgitating the facts of the article in the hope that this will divert attention from the howler won't wash on this site
 
Hi ECC Dublin! and welcome to AAM.

Would you agree that the misleading headline brings your otherwise excellent organisation (and website) into disrepute?

Would you consider ammending the offending headline to:

1 in 3 'shopping on line' complaints involve goods failing to arrive - according to new ECC-Net Report

aj
 
More to the point - the publishing of inaccurate and exaggerated headlines/reports on consumer related issues is likely to cause some (many?) to dismiss the publisher as cranks and ignore them thereafter. Of course there will be a section of the public who will take them at face value and consider it more grist to their "rip off Ireland" mill which doesn't help focus on the real consumer issues and rip-offs either. Consumer awareness campaigning should be based on factual information not sensationalist and exaggerated headlines and should address the real consumer/rip-off issues.
 
And, of course to compound the problem, this article is being reported elsewhere, without any sanity checking or editing :

E.g. on the Enterprise Ireland website it states :

"The Network encountered three main problems when shopping online in the EU: one in three goods were never delivered" etc. etc.
 
Dear ECC,

The headline is simply wrong, and your failure to correct it suggests:

1. There's no-one in your office who understands basic math.
2. You know the headline is wrong and don't care.
3. You're all on vacation and will correct it when you get back.

Let's hope it's number 3!

You need to address this issue, otherwise you're damaging the reputation of your office and your organization. If you can release such a nonsense press release and not correct it when notified, how can you expect any credibility in the future?

James
 
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