Consumer: templates and forms

A letter ending a gym contract or a running subscription in Austria — a magazine, a membership, streaming or a delivery plan. You give ordinary notice for the earliest date; for a magazine or delivery plan, notice under § 15 of Austria's Consumer Protection Act (KSchG), two months before the end of the first year and then of each half-year; notice for good cause such as illness or pregnancy; or notice for the original end date where you were not reminded before an automatic renewal (§ 6 Abs 1 Z 2 KSchG). With revocation of the direct debit and a request to confirm the end date. In German.

A letter ending your mobile, landline or internet contract with a provider in Austria: with ordinary notice for the earliest date, at the end of the minimum term, or extraordinarily after a change to the terms or charges that is not solely to your benefit — then with no remaining charges for the minimum term (§ 135 of Austria's Telecommunications Act, TKG 2021). After the minimum term, at most one month's notice applies. With customer, contract and phone numbers, revocation of the direct debit and a request for written confirmation of the end date. In German.

A letter withdrawing from a purchase made online, by phone or by catalogue, or from a contract signed at your door, in Germany. Under §§ 312g and 355 of the German Civil Code (BGB) a consumer may withdraw within 14 days without giving reasons. The letter carries everything the statutory model withdrawal form asks for — order date, date the goods arrived, order number, the goods, your name and address — in its own words, and asks for the refund within 14 days and a confirmation of receipt. In German, ready to send by e-mail or post.

The second step of a complaint about faulty goods in Germany. If the seller did not repair or replace the goods in time after being told of the defect, the defect returned after a repair, or the seller refused, you declare withdrawal from the sale or a reduction of the price (§§ 437 and 441 of the German Civil Code, BGB) — when buying from a trader, without a further deadline (§ 475d BGB). With purchase date, defect, ground, amount to refund, deadline for payment and IBAN. In German.

A notice ending a mobile, DSL, cable or fibre contract in Germany under the Telecommunications Act (TKG): ordinary notice at the earliest date, one month's notice once the minimum term has ended (§ 56 TKG), notice because you are moving (§ 60 TKG), because the internet is too slow and a deadline to fix it has passed, with the regulator's measurement record (§ 57(4) TKG), or after a one-sided change to the contract. With customer and contract numbers, phone number and a request to confirm the end date. In German.

A gym member's written notice in Cyprus ending the membership: under the contract's termination clause, at the end of the term without renewal, for health reasons or a move, because the gym no longer provides what was agreed, or by withdrawing within 14 days when the membership was bought online. It asks for card or direct debit charges to stop and for anything prepaid to be refunded, and refuses any penalty the contract does not clearly provide for.

The notice by which a consumer in Greece withdraws from a purchase made online, by phone or away from the shop, doorstep sales included, within 14 calendar days and without giving a reason (Law 2251/1994, art. 3ε). It goes further than the model form in the Act's annex: it identifies the order, asks for every payment back, standard delivery included, within 14 days, gives the IBAN for the refund and announces the return of the goods.

The notice by which a consumer in Romania withdraws from an online, phone or off-premises purchase within 14 days — 30 if the contract was made during an unsolicited visit to the home or on an excursion organised by the trader — without giving a reason (Emergency Ordinance no. 34/2014). It identifies the product and the order, asks for every payment — standard delivery included — to be refunded within 14 days to the account given, and announces the return of the goods. It follows the content of the model in the ordinance's annex.

Notice ending a contract for an ongoing service in Poland — a gym or pool membership, a course, a subscription, a service plan: the contract and customer numbers, the service, how it ends to underline — with the contract's notice period, immediately for important reasons, or without notice for an open-ended contract that sets none — withdrawal of consent to recurring payments, and a demand to refund fees taken in advance. It relies on rules the terms and conditions cannot exclude.

A consumer's notice for when the seller refused to repair or replace goods that do not conform to the contract, did not do it in reasonable time, the repair did not work, or the defect is too serious to wait (art. 43e of the Consumer Rights Act): the choice between reducing the price and withdrawing from the contract, the amount and the account for the refund. It reminds the seller to repay within 14 days and to take the goods back at its own cost.

The right to return an online purchase within fourteen days without giving a reason. The period runs from when the goods were received, not from the order, and it is met if you send the notice within it — even if the goods start their journey back later. The form identifies the order and the account the refund goes to.

For a consumer in Italy who paid a trader – a shop, a tradesman, a service company – and did not get what was agreed, or was charged sums not owed: you formally call on the trader in writing to perform within at least 15 days, put it in default (Article 1219 of the Italian Civil Code) and interrupt limitation (Article 2943). You choose whether, once the deadline passes, the contract ends by law (Article 1454) or you will sue for performance. Energy, phone, bank and insurance disputes also have a free sector route. Send this Italian letter by registered post with proof of receipt or by PEC to the trader’s certified address.

E-Control, Austria's energy regulator, offers a free model letter for this. This document is your own objection to a price or terms change announced by your electricity or gas supplier in Austria. For electricity, households can object within four weeks of receiving the notice, free and whatever the binding period (§ 21 of Austria's Electricity Act, ElWG); the contract then ends after the statutory period, on the old terms until then. Outside a binding period you can also give two weeks' notice (§ 24 ElWG). Gas is governed by the GWG 2011. With customer number, metering point and a request to confirm the end date. In German.

The RTR, Austria's telecoms regulator, offers its own free online form for its conciliation body. This document is your written application — to send by post or email, or as ready text to paste into that form: the provider, customer and phone numbers, the facts, your objection to the provider and its answer, what you ask for and the amount disputed, with your consent to its being passed on. For disputes over bills, contracts, notices or faults in service. Once a bill objection is lodged with the RTR, the disputed amount is not due until the procedure ends (§ 145 TKG 2021). In German.

For a consumer in Spain who already asked for a faulty product to be repaired or replaced and did not get it: the company did not do it within a reasonable time, refused, the fault came back or it is serious. The letter requires the seller to reduce the price in proportion or to end the contract and refund the money (arts. 119 to 119 ter of the Spanish Consumer Protection Act, TRLGDCU), and includes the invitation to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. Send it by burofax with certified content. In Spanish.