Information about complaints regarding money exchanges

Information about complaints regarding money exchanges

If you have experienced any difficulty during a money exchange, please read the following information carefully before contacting our staff.

1. The Financial Arbitrator is an out-of-court decision-making body founded by the government authorized to decide specific disputes related to the financial market, e.g. parties to money exchange. The Financial Arbitrator cannot cancel any money exchange immediately on simple request of the customer, therefore we cannot give you your money back at this place. Nevertheless, you can file a complaint with the Financial Arbitrator which means that you start legal proceedings (alternative to court proceedings) in which the Financial Arbitrator may issue an award ordering the cancellation of the money exchange (or other remedy).
2. The proceedings before the Financial Arbitrator are free of charge.
3. You are entitled to have the dispute conducted in the language in which the contract between you and the exchange office has been written, or in the language in which you have usually communicated with the exchange office in writing.
4. Please be aware that to start the proceedings the Financial Arbitrator needs a proof that you have requested remedies from the exchange office. It is a prerequisite for the proceedings laid down by the law. If you have asked the exchange office for remedies orally (e.g. you asked for cancellation of the money exchange as soon as it took place) but you do not have a record of your request you may file a complaint with the Financial Arbitrator anyway but you will need to send your request to the exchange office again in any documented way (e.g. by e-mail) and prove the same to the Financial Arbitrator (upon the request of the Financial Arbitrator at the latest).
5. In the proceedings, the Financial Arbitrator will particularly examine whether the exchange office complied with its obligations under Sec. 11, Sec. 12 and Sec. 13 of the Act No. 277/2013 Coll., on Money Exchanges, as amended (see page 2 for quotation of the above mentioned provisions). Therefore when filling in your complaint please describe particularly the exchange rate list displayed in the exchange office (including the exchange rate you expected based on it) and the pre-contractual information you were shown in writing before the money exchange took place (if you were shown one).
6. Please attach any receipt or pre-contractual information you received from the exchange office to your complaint. Our staff will make a copy of the documents if you want to keep the originals.
7. As far as the decision making process of the Financial Arbitrator is concerned, the Financial Arbitrator shall decide the dispute without undue delay by issuing an award. Nevertheless, the complexity of the dispute and/or the need of assistance of third parties shall be taken into account. The complexity of the dispute depends on the subject matter of the dispute and the evidence collected having regard to the contentions of the parties, as well as the reliability thereof. The Financial Arbitrator shall decide the dispute within 90 days of collecting evidence necessary to make a decision; should it be unable in particularly complicated cases, having regard to the nature of the dispute, to decide the dispute within such term the term shall be prolonged accordingly, by no more than 90 additional days. The Financial Arbitrator shall inform the parties of the prolongation and the new term without delay.
8. Please do not forget to provide us with your e-mail address and confirm the receipt of any e-mail you get from us. This may expedite the proceedings as the post-delivery to other countries is usually time consuming.

If you have read the above information and you wish to file a complaint with the Financial Arbitrator, please fill in the complaint form.

Selected provisions of the Act No. 277/2013 Coll., on Money Exchanges:

Sec. 11 Exchange rates list
(1) The Provider (i.e. the exchange office – note of the Financial Arbitrator) shall publish the exchange rates list in all business places where the money exchanges are being performed.
(2) The exchange rate list shall include:
a) a designation showing that an exchange change list is concerned,
b) trade name, or company name, or name/s and surname/s of the Provider and the identification number,
c) names or other designation of the currencies between which the money exchange shall take place,
d) information on the money exchange rates to be used for calculation of the money exchange which are the less advantageous for the person interested in the money exchange (hereinafter referred to as "the Interested"), and
e) information on the money exchange fee.
(3) The data displayed on the exchange rates list shall be given in the appropriate size, and in the exact and comprehensible manner. Numbers shall be written in Arabic numerals.

Sec. 12 Different terms for money exchanges
(1) The Provider shall not perform any money exchange using an exchange rate or fee which is less advantageous for the Interested than the exchange rate or fee displayed on the exchange rates list.
(2) Should the Provider offer an exchange rate or fee which is more advantageous for the Interested than the exchange rate or fee displayed on the exchange rates list the information thereon shall not be confusingly similar to the exchange rates list, or the information on it, particularly to the exchange rate. Should the offer of the more advantageous exchange rate or fee only apply under certain circumstances the Provider shall publish information on such conditions together with the information on more advantageous conditions. The provision of Sec. 11 Par. 3 applies accordingly.

Sec. 13 Information to be provided before the money exchange takes place
(1) The Provider shall communicate to the Interested, sufficiently in advance before entering into the money exchange, information specified in Paragraph 2. Such information shall be communicated to the Interested in textual form, in the exact and comprehensive manner and at least in the Czech and English language. The textual form shall be considered to have been applied where the information has been communicated in such a manner that it can be conserved and repeatedly displayed.
(2) The Interested shall be, in accordance with Paragraph 1, provided with the following information on
a) the Provider
1. trade name, or company name, or name/s and surname/s,
2. address of the seat and address of the business place where the contract is being concluded, or a different address, including the electronic one, that is important for the communication of the Interested with the Provider, and
3. identification number,
b) the money exchange
1. names or other designations of the currencies between which the money exchange shall take place,
2. amount of money to be presented by the Interested,
3. exchange rate,
4. amount of money that corresponds to the amount of money presented by the Interested for money exchange after conversion made using the exchange rate,
5. money exchange fee,
6. amount of money to be presented to the Interested after conversion, if different from the amount of money under point 4, and
7. date and time of presentation of the information, and
c) other rights of the Interested
8. information on the right of the Interested to file a complaint with the supervising body, and
9. information on the right of the Interested to file a petition with an out of court decision making body deciding disputes between the Interested and the Provider and the name and the address of the seat of such body.