The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) referred Americana Group, owner of the Pizza Hut franchise in Egypt, to the public prosecution for violating Consumer Protection Act 67 of 2006.
A consumer filed a complaint to the agency concerning Pizza Hut announcing false prices, said CPA chairperson Atef Yacoub. An advertisement campaign for the Pizza Hut Triple Box put a price tag of EGP 99 for the offer; yet, the price at the restaurant’s Maadi branch was EGP 126.5. The legal representative of Americana Group has been summoned for investigation, and a lawsuit has been moved.
Yacoub said that the legal representative called for a postponement so as to provide a statement that the prices had been changed before the incident. However, the representative did not attend the session, nor provide the documents he claimed, which forced the CPA to take legal action and send the case to the public prosecution.
He noted that Pizza Hut has hence violated Consumer Protection Act 67 for 2006, as Article 2 provides consumers with the right to access correct and rightful information and data on the products purchased. Moreover, Article 3 of the same law abides all service providers to offer, clearly, the information on the services and products they provide, their prices, specifications, and characteristics.
Article 6 also states that suppliers must provide correct information on their products and avoid all measures that could create a false or misleading impression.
Yacoub urged consumers to help the agency through filing complaints and reports on possible violations so that the CPA could take action and control the market.
