Updated: 17.02.2024
idealo has set up an electronic and free internal complaint-handling system (“ICHS”) for dealing with user complaints made against certain measures taken by idealo. The ICHS described here applies to all measures in connection with the idealo-price-comparison.
If you have notified us of alleged illegal content on idealo-price-comparison through our electronic notice mechanism and you do not agree with our decision regarding the reported content, you have the option of filing a complaint against this decision via our ICHS.
Users directly affected by a content moderation decision, including business users, also have access to the ICHS.
In particular, the following content moderation decisions, which are made on the grounds that the information submitted by the user on idealo-price-comparison constitutes illegal content or is incompatible with our General Terms and Conditions, General Terms of Use or idealo Guidelines, are subject to appeal:
The possibility of appeal in accordance with the above paragraphs exists for a period of six months from the date of the decision. Only one complaint can be submitted for each content moderation decision.
Business users may also use the ICHS to file complaints about other measures or behaviour by idealo that adversely affect them in relation to their contractual relationship.
We will inform you on a case-by-case basis if you have the option to lodge a complaint through our ICHS.
In those cases, you may submit a complaint informally via email by replying to the email in which we informed you of the content moderation decision taken in response to your notice.
In order to process a complaint in a targeted and efficient manner, we require at least the following information:
Once a complaint is submitted through our ICHS, you will receive confirmation of receipt and we will
review it in a timely, non-discriminatory, diligent, and objective manner. We will notify you without undue delay of the result of our review.
If a complaint contains sufficient substantiated reasons to conclude
a. that the decision not to act upon a notice is unfounded, or
b. that the information to which the complaint relates is neither illegal nor incompatible with our general terms and conditions, general terms of use or idealo guidelines, or
c. that the complainant's behaviour does not justify the suspension or termination of the provision of the idealo services,
we will without delay reverse the respective decision or measure, insofar as it is both technologically feasible and reasonable.
Otherwise, we will uphold our initial decision and reject your complaint. If you do not agree with our decision in the appeal proceedings, you have various legal remedies at your disposal, depending on the circumstances.
Further information on the possible legal remedies can be found in section 4.
Complaints submitted by bodies, organisations or associations as referred to in Article 86 (1) DSA through our ICHS in the name of our users will be processed and resolved with priority and without undue delay.
As part of our legal obligations, we work with out-of-court dispute settlement bodies to settle any disputes related to content moderation decisions (e.g. rejection of a notice or complaint about illegal content or removal of illegal content).
The procedure is open to all users who are directly affected by such decisions.
If the option to engage in out-of-court dispute resolution is available in individual cases, we will inform the respective user about it.
We recommend that users try to resolve their concerns using our ICHS before initiating a dispute resolution or mediation procedure in order to more quickly find a solution and do so free of charge.
Requests to initiate dispute settlement procedures must be filed with a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body. Certification will be carried out by the Digital Services Coordinators of the EU member states. The details of the out-of-court dispute settlement procedure are governed by Article 21 DSA (see Regulation (EU) 2022/2065).
The certified out-of-court dispute settlement bodies are not authorised to impose a legally binding dispute settlement on the respective user and idealo.
We will update the information on this page once the out-of-court dispute settlement bodies have been certified and further information has been published by the Digital Services Coordinator responsible for idealo or by the Commission.
In accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150, business users are also entitled to engage in mediation for the out-of-court settlement of disputes that could not be resolved by means of idealo's ICHS. idealo cooperates with the mediators recommended by the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (Bundesverband E-Commerce und Versandhandel bevh e.V.) listed here. The mediation procedure may involve costs for the respective business user.
idealo reserves the right to refuse to cooperate with a competent out-of-court dispute settlement or mediation body if
The right of affected users to assert any claims for redress, injunctive relief, damages, or compensation in court remains unaffected by the aforementioned options for out-of-court dispute settlement and mediation.
If you submit a complaint through our ICHS, you must act in good faith and ensure that the information you provide is accurate and complete.
If we find that individuals or entities are frequently submitting manifestly unfounded complaints, we are required by law to suspend the processing of complaints from these individuals and entities for a reasonable period of time after prior warning.
When deciding on the suspension and, as applicable, its duration, we consider all facts and circumstances at our disposal. This includes in particular (i) the absolute number of manifestly unfounded complaints submitted within a certain period of time, (ii) their relative share of the total number of complaints submitted during this period, (iii) the nature of the complaints and the severity of the associated allegations, including their impact on other users, and (iv) the intentions of the complainant, if discernible.