About us

The UK European Consumer Centre (UK ECC) is here to provide you with advice and information when shopping within the Internal Market of Europe. If you happen to be in a dispute with a trader located in a different country to yourself, but still in the European Union, the UK ECC maybe able to provide further support and assist in the contacting of the trader on your behalf.

The UK ECC is part of the European Consumer Centre Network (ECC-Net), which is made up of 29 centres (one in each EU country plus Iceland and Norway). Our aim is to give you the same confidence when you are shopping within Europe as you do at home.

The service provided by the UK ECC and the ECC-Net is advisory - we do not have any enforcement powers and cannot compel traders to take any action or accept our point of view. We can provide advice, information, and support; if our actions do not provide a positive result, we will be able to provide guidance on further action. This further action could be an Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme, if applicable, or possible action through the European Small Claims Procedure.

Our general advice to all consumers who are having problems with a trader is to make contact with them first, preferably in the form a letter (with proof of delivery). You can find further information on how to deal with your problem on our Help Me webpage. If you are then not satisfied with the outcome or response from the trader, we may be able to offer further assistance depending on your situation.

A consumer advice line is available for you to contact the UK ECC, 08456 04 05 03. It is open Monday to Friday between 10:00am and 3:00pm.  The centre is closed on bank and public holidays.

Please be aware that the UK ECC does not offer a drop-in service.

Further contact details for the UK ECC can be found on our contact us webpage.

If you would like more information on ECC-Net, please download a brochure that is provided by the European Commission:

 

Brochure on the European Consumer Centre Network (ECC-Net)  (1MB)

 

 

 

 

If you wish to find out more about our telephone number, please visit our telephone information page. Where you will find out details about charging and find our geographical telephone number. 

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) co-funds the UK ECC with the European Commission.

 

For media related enquiries, please contact the UK ECC's Information and Communications Officer, Susan Tolman, at ecc@tsi.org.uk or on 08456 08 96 17, with full details of your enquiry. Thank you.

 

 

Staff Members

UK ECC Manager	Jed Mayatt
UK ECC Executive	Elisabetta Sciallis
Consumer Adviser	Adam Mortimer
Consumer Adviser	Laura Fergusson
Consumer Adviser	Sonia Payne
Administrative Assistant	Jade Ahmed
Information and Communications Officer	Susan Tolman

If you regularly shop online or are just about to for the first time, it may be beneficial to visit Howard the ECC-Net's online shopping assistant, Meet Howard - your online shopping assistant

The UK European Consumer Centre has a free newsletter available, “UK ECC – your update”. The aim of the newsletter is to provide you, the consumer, with a flavour of what the UK ECC does, provide examples of cases we have been working on and, more importantly, provide you with the best advice on cross-border shopping.

If you are interested in subscribing to our newsletter, please complete the form on our subscription page. Once you have subscribed, you will receive confirmation of your subscription. You will then receive the latest copy of our newsletter. New ones will be provided when they are released.

Home

Topics

Contact

News

Links

Help me