Just a week after the official presentation of the Antispekula.bg web platform and the mobile application for submitting signals, citizens are sending dozens of signals every day for dubious promotions, price jumps and other unfair trading practices.
The largest number of signals for the last 7 days were submitted by Sofia, followed by Varna and Blagoevgrad.
Along with the signals for price increases, a significant part of the signals received concern false and misleading “discounts“. In one of the large retail chains, for example, a kilogram of cucumbers cost 1.99 leva, and a few days later the same price was advertised as reduced from 2.99 leva. Consumers have also reported similar irregularities in the field of household goods: a mop set was first sold for 69.99 BGN, and two days later it was promoted as "reduced" - from 109.99 BGN to 82.49 BGN, as well as for medicines, with a specific report against a pharmacy chain stating that a probiotic product was sold at a price of 21.02 BGN, reduced from 24.73 BGN until the end of June, and from July 1st its promotional price was announced at 24.73 BGN. and the regular price reaches 29.09 leva.
Another group of signals registered by the platform for citizen price control are related to higher prices than those announced at the stands, with a number of consumers signaling products that turn out to be more expensive at the checkout than their announced prices.
A new trend related to the adoption of the euro in the country are signals of misleading citizens by announcing prices in euros before prices in Bulgarian leva and by indicating the currency in very small print. In the platform “Antispecula“ have also received signals from employees in food chains, who admit that this leads to mass deception of citizens, who accept the lower prices in euros as the real prices in leva at which they can purchase the given goods.
Over the last week, Antispekula.bg has received a series of signals about price increases in coffee, chocolate products, dairy products, sausages, and chicken. Unsurprisingly, the largest share of signals is for food products, but the platform also registers signals for medicines, clothing, bank fees, and household goods.
In the field of pharmaceutical products, the platform has also received a number of signals about double price increases, for example, for a type of medicine for high blood pressure in Blagoevgrad, the price of which increased from 4.59 leva to 9.80 leva from May to June.
Signals about irregularities in currency conversion from “Antispekula“ registered mostly from a clothing chain, whose prices in euros are significantly higher than the announced prices in Bulgarian leva.
A number of citizens also express their dissatisfaction with the new increase in fees and commissions for most of the banking sector. At one of the large banks, according to an investigation by “Antispecula”, the increase in tariffs is by an average of 53% since June 17. Consumers also report other banks that have drastically increased their fees, with one case where the fee for opening an account increased from 10 leva to 19.56 leva or 10 euros.
According to the experts of Izpravi se.BG, one of the initiators of the initiative for civil price control, cases like this clearly illustrate the need to adopt specific legislation to regulate prices, which would actually close the possibility of fees or prices being increased twice purely speculatively. We remind you that the civil platform also proposed a bill called “Antispecula“ with measures to regulate the prices of food, essential goods and services, medicines, banks, mobile operators, and fuels.
The platform continues to accept signals around the clock, and the Antispekula.bg team is committed to continuing to publish weekly summarized data and to forward proven cases to the competent control authorities. At this point, dozens of legally substantiated signals have been submitted to the institutions.
The civil price control platform calls on users to be active and submit signals every time they notice an unjustified increase in prices or other violations in pricing.
You can submit a signal and see the signals received at this time on the platform's page: https://antispekula.bg/signali