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Consumer protection: Many illegal T&Cs with e-scooter providers

Whether it’s a short vacation in the big city, a way to university or an alternative to the stuffy subway in high summer. E-scooters are becoming increasingly popular as a means of transportation. This is not only due to the fun handling of the motorized scooters. What’s more, the uncomplicated app system makes it extremely easy to borrow an e-scooter on the spur of the moment. Unfortunately, the vast majority of users ignore the associated general terms and conditions. As it has now turned out, however, these are in part extremely questionable, if not illegal.

AGB clauses are illegal

It is impossible to imagine large cities without the electrically powered two-wheeled runabouts. Part of the success formula behind the high demand is certainly the uncomplicated app concept. Once you’ve found a suitable scooter, it doesn’t take long to get on it and start riding. Once you have downloaded and installed the app, all you have to do is set up an account with a suitable payment option. Now unlock the scooter and the fun can begin. Honestly, who wants to read the associated terms and conditions?

Many will now be annoyed not to have done so. So Verbraucherzentralen have been able to work out that many providers for e-scooters violate German civil law with their terms and conditions. A total of 54 providers were tested. The frightening: Each provider had at least one violation in its terms and conditions to show. But it seems to be above all the sheer volume of illegal clauses that has the experts in the field of “sharing mobility” worried. This should by no means be taken lightly.

A real rain of warning letters

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Naturally, the responsible lawyers at the consumer protection agencies do not want to simply accept the abuses. Instead, they immediately took action. The reactions of the legal experts range from simple warnings of individual clauses to full-blown lawsuits. If you consider that some providers rely on many illegal clauses in their GTCs, this is hardly surprising. In the case of the negative front-runner, the responsible lawyers were able to establish a sad record that is unlikely to be broken so quickly by any other e-scooter provider. They were able to find a total of 63 illegal clauses in the GTCs. Many of the companies concerned also seem to be reasonable about their mistakes.

Consumer protection agencies pointed out the irregularities, and almost half of them immediately submitted a cease-and-desist declaration. Generally speaking, a lot seems to have already happened behind the scenes in this case. The consumer protection organizations have not only filed lawsuits in many cases. On top of that, there are said to be cases in which a verdict has already been reached or a settlement reached. Unfortunately, a few black sheep will probably slip through the cracks of the consumer protection agencies. In particular, providers of e-scooters that have their headquarters abroad are more or less considered untouchable.

Excessive liability clauses in the GTCs

In part, it is really amazing what mistakes the companies have made in the area of their T&Cs. For example, some providers are said to have disregarded their imprint obligation completely or at least to a certain extent. However, some clauses in the area of liability law are much more serious. Thus some AGBs are to have been so formulated that the E-Scooter offerer took itself completely out of the adhesion. If damage had occurred in these cases, the customer would have been liable for it. This sounds unfair, even to laymen, when you consider that this should apply even if the consumer is not at fault for the damage. On top of that, some clauses stipulated that the customer would be liable even for simple dirt on the scooter – this is out of touch with reality for such a rental property.

Much worse than the pure questions of guilt are then the partly absurd claims for damages, which could come on consumers. These are more than exaggerated in their height from view of the lawyers of the consumer centers. While full-grown damage in practice fortunately rather rarely occurs, the overdraft of the booked lending duration is already rather a classical example from the everyday life. For example, some providers charge high penalties if the scooter is used for longer than booked in the app. The fees are similarly high if the scooter is parked outside the designated drop-off area. Many providers do not only charge high penalties for a large deviation. Even a location shift around a few meters means with some offerers already a horrendous penalty.

Aberrant regulations

While some clauses provide for excessive liability on the part of the consumer, others are far removed from reality. For example, some providers arguably prohibit their customers from carrying deodorant while riding an e-scooter. If minor damage should ever occur with an e-scooter, consumers would generally have to notify the rental company – nothing more. However, this does not seem to be enough for many providers. For example, according to some GTCs, customers should always inform the rental company as well as the relevant police – even in the case of minor scratches. This is not only out of touch with reality, but also creates even more work for the police, who are already overstretched in many places.

Certainly, many providers will now revise their terms and conditions. So it’s high time to get on an e-scooter yourself. Should you get on an electric-powered scooter regularly, then it might even be worth buying. Take a look at the models from Sharp Consumer Electronics.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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Whether it’s a short vacation in the big city, a way to university or an alternative to the stuffy subway in high summer. E-scooters are becoming increasingly popular as a means of transportation. This is not only due to the fun handling of the motorized scooters. What’s more, the uncomplicated app system makes it extremely … (Weiterlesen...)

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