How to write a complaint to the Human Rights Ombudsman

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Published: 10/23/2018

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Each employee has not only certain job responsibilities, but also rights. If an employer violates current labor laws, the employee has the right to contact supervisory authorities to complain about the violation of his rights.

• What is a violation of labor laws
• Where to complain about violation of labor laws
• How to properly file a complaint
• How to file a complaint and the time frame for its consideration

Grounds for complaint

If the rights of a consumer of a product or service are violated, he can file a complaint. Legislative acts provide various grounds for this.

When selling goods or providing services, the following regulatory requirements must be met:

• proper quality of goods and services
• availability of reliable information about the product and service, their manufacturer and seller
• complete safety of goods and services
• fulfillment of established service life, shelf life, storage and warranty

In some specific cases, the following reasons can be distinguished:

1. Purchasing goods in a store: goods of low quality or not meeting the passport specifications; refusal to replace or return purchased goods in violation of Art. Article 18 and 25 of Law No. 2300-1; improper storage of goods and unsanitary conditions in the store; expired product expiration date; poor quality service (rudeness, lack of price tags, non-issuance of receipts, etc.). These rules also apply to online stores.
2. Banks, financial and credit organizations: imposition of additional services; disclosure of confidential information about the client; excessively high interest rates; assignment of a client's debt to a third party without notifying the borrower.
3. Housing and communal services: inflated tariffs; untimely garbage removal; lack of snow removal, ice on the sidewalk, icicles on the roof; provision of services in violation of standards (long interruptions in water supply, insufficient temperature in the heating system, low electrical voltage, etc.), unsanitary conditions in the territory under their jurisdiction.

Important! The legislation of the Russian Federation protects consumer rights, and therefore, if their satisfaction is refused, a person has every right to file a complaint about poor quality service.

Drawing up a claim, sample

If there are grounds, the consumer of a product or service may file a claim with the seller or service provider demanding satisfaction of his legal rights. The consumer complaint (claim) is drawn up in 2 copies in free form.

The second copy of the document remains with the applicant, and it must have a signature from the recipient confirming the delivery of the first copy and the date. It is necessary for further steps if the claim is denied.

The claim must reflect the following information:

• name of the seller or organization providing the service
• information about the applicant (consumer)
• essence of the problem, name of the product or service, date and place of destruction, references to legal norms
• requirement for the seller or service provider to satisfy the claim (return or exchange of goods, correction of violations during the provision of services, etc.)

The document must bear the personal signature of the consumer and the date of preparation.

Which services to contact?

To protect consumer rights, federal and regional services are provided.

You can contact:

1. To Rospotrebnadzor in case of violations in trade, in the provision of banking services, housing and communal services and other services to the population, as well as in case of detection of violations in the field of sanitation, ecology, fire safety, or danger to life.
2. To the State Housing Inspectorate: in case of improper work of the management company and housing and communal services, violations during construction, repair and redevelopment. The service considers all issues of life support for citizens in apartment buildings.
3. To the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station: in case of violation of sanitary standards in the field of trade or provision of services.
4. To the judicial authorities: in case of refusal to satisfy consumer rights after filing a claim and pre-trial proceedings.

At the regional level, you can contact the following services:

You can file a complaint by contacting the specified service in person or online by going to the official website.

Submission methods

This can be done using the following methods:

• personally take the paper to the required authority;
• send by mail with a notification and an inventory of all attachments;
• send the paper via email;
• fill out the online form on the official website.

When choosing one of these methods, it is worth remembering that the notification letter will be in transit for several days, and a document brought in person will be immediately accepted for consideration.

Laws designed to protect the buyer

The fundamental document regulating consumer rights in Russia is the Federal Law of 02/07/92 No. 2300-1 (as amended on 02/24/2020) “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”. Trade is subject to the Rules for the sale of goods, which include “Rules for the sale of certain types of goods”, “Rules for commission trade in non-food products”, “Rules for the sale of goods remotely.

The Rules for the provision of services are specified separately, incl. medical, communal, transport, tourism, etc. They are regulated by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, Government Decrees on specific products and departmental regulations are adopted.

Where to complain

The Ombudsman is not the only option where you can appeal against the arbitrariness of state representatives. The Russian Federation participates in the Convention governing the activities of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This means that you can contact both the Commissioner in Russia and the ECHR.

Both methods are not without nuances. The first is load. All other things being equal, the Ombudsman will make a decision faster than the ECHR, since the European Court is extremely overloaded with hundreds of civil cases. You have to wait not 1 month for a verdict, but whole years.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the Russian Federation has partially fenced itself off from the ECHR and does not recognize its acts as superior to its constitutional principles. It makes sense to appeal to the European Court when the applicant does not trust either the supervisory government bodies or the activities of the Ombudsman.

The procedure for protecting consumer rights step by step

To ensure the protection of their rights, the consumer should take the following actions:

1. Determining the fact of violation of consumer rights. Determining the basis for making a claim.
2. Repeated visit to a retail outlet or place of service provision in order to resolve the issue peacefully. Oral presentation of the essence of the complaint.
3. If the problem is refused to be resolved at the initial stage, a written complaint is submitted.
4. If the claim is rejected or ignored altogether, then the necessary documents are prepared to prove that you are right.
5. Submitting a complaint with evidence of correctness to Rospotrebnadzor or another organization.
6. If the complaint is rejected, preparations begin for filing an application with the court. It is best to find a good lawyer or enlist the support of a public organization.
7. Filing a claim in court for consumer protection.

Important! The court will accept the application for consideration only if all possible attempts have been made to resolve the dispute peacefully, i.e., pre-trial proceedings have been carried out.

When is refusal possible?

The consumer can count on the protection of his rights, but in some cases his claim may be refused. First of all, a refusal will be received if the claim is unfounded, i.e. lack of legal basis. In addition, such a decision will be made if the claim is filed in violation of the current procedure.

When making a claim for a purchased product, Articles 18 and 25 of Law No. 2300-1 and Art. Art. 475, 502 and 503 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Refusal will be legal in the following cases:

• the product is of good quality, and the exchange request was received later than the 14-day period
• The product belongs to the category of non-returnable goods
• The product was damaged after purchase
• the rules for using the purchased product were violated
• the warranty period has expired
• Items exclusively for individual use cannot be exchanged

The consumer must know the exchange and return procedure when filing a claim. Protection of his rights will be ensured only if there is evidence of their violation.

Where to write a complaint against your boss?

You can complain about the actions or misconduct of a manager to the following authorities:

• the prosecutor's office;
• labor inspection;
• court;
• to senior management.

As a rule, the appeal is initially sent to higher authorities. If it refuses to take any action against the violator, the employee has the right to appeal to other authorities. However, filing a complaint with several government bodies at the same time is not prohibited by law.

Buying Tips

In order to be able to defend your rights, you should listen to the following advice:

1. For a purchase, you must take a receipt and keep it until you are sure of the proper quality of the product.
2. Particular attention should be paid to the warranty period. After its completion, claims will not be accepted. For complex products, the seller must issue a warranty card.
3. After purchasing a product, you must carefully read the instructions for its use. If it is violated, claims will not be accepted.
4. A bank card gives advantages when purchasing goods, because... A note about the transfer of money remains in the bank. If the buyer has lost the receipt, then using this mark you can always prove to whom and when the payment was made.

The buyer should take into account that defects in the product may be discovered after purchase. He needs to think in advance about return options if inadequate quality is detected.

Protection of consumer rights is guaranteed by the legislation of the Russian Federation. In any city there are services and a public organization where you can file a complaint about violations. If the claim for satisfaction of a legal right is not satisfied, then the court will consider it.

If the claim is filed correctly and there are compelling reasons, the consumer can count on the protection of his rights.

How to write a complaint against your boss to the prosecutor's office?

Writing a complaint against an insurance company -. Filing a complaint against a teacher - .

Declaring the complaint unfounded - .

Together with the appeal to the labor inspectorate, you can also send a complaint to the prosecutor's office. This authority deals with issues related to violations of personal and labor rights of citizens.

You should contact the prosecutor's office if you are faced with assault from your boss, sexual harassment, insults, or delays in vacations or salaries.

Contacting the prosecutor's office is a rather serious step. After receiving a complaint, an appropriate inspection is carried out, the identified violations are subject to correction, and the guilty officials are held accountable.

Concealing information that falls under criminal liability (for example, an industrial accident) is also grounds for contacting law enforcement agencies.