Many consumers report that since January 1, a number of merchants have been announcing prices in levs, taking into account round values in euros. As a result, the payment amount often ends in 35, 78, 89 Bulgarian stotinki and other similar values, which correctly appear on the receipts, draw attention from “We, the consumers”.
The problem arises when returning the change. In many cases, merchants round the amount in their favor - for example, to 40, 80 or 90 stotinki. In this way, the consumer loses 1, 2 or 5 stotinki from each purchase. These amounts, although small individually, represent a net profit for the merchant and a real financial loss for the customer, the consumer platform points out.
Such practices often rely on the psychological discomfort of the consumer – the inconvenience of asking for their exact change for “just a few stotinki“. However, this tacit consent is not correct behavior. In addition to harming the customer himself, it encourages and reinforces bad commercial practices. The risk of the growth of these negative practices will most likely deepen by the end of the month, as merchants will increasingly start to justify that they cannot return exact change because they do not have Bulgarian stotinki of all denominations available.
It is important to emphasize that the issue is far from insignificant. If today the loss is from 1 to 5 Bulgarian stotinki when paying in levs, then at the next stage – when prices are only in euros and end in 0.35, 0.78 or 0.89 euros - the same rounding will lead to twice as much damage.
We urge consumers to carefully monitor their bills, receipts and change received and to react to any discrepancy. This applies both in cases where it is returned in levs and in euros. We remind you that by law, upon request by the consumer, the cashier is obliged to inform him of the lev equivalent of the change, if it is in euros. This is not a trivial matter, even against the backdrop of dissatisfaction with a significant increase in the prices of a number of goods and services. This is a worthy, responsible and completely justified defense of consumer rights.
Only through an active and informed position can we prevent such practices from becoming the norm, emphasize the members of “We, the Consumers”.