Air conditioner scams in France: more than 700 reports this summer

Residents and homeowners in France are being warned to stay vigilant after an explosion in portable air-conditioning sales scams. 

Fraudsters are taking advantage of the record consecutive heatwaves to hoodwink those wanting to cool off, with online purchases in particular affected.

More than 700 reports of fraudulent practices in the sector have been made to France’s official anti-scam website since June 1. 

While some of these come from savvy shoppers who noticed a scam before buying, a number are from disgruntled clients.

Fake claims, high prices, arriving broken

Main complaints include being charged multiple times for a product, items turning up damaged or not arriving at all, and false information about products.

Units promising to cool homes without expelling collected warm air – impossible, as this is a fundamental requirement for all large air conditioning units, even modern heat pumps – sold for hundreds of euros, turn out to be fans or evaporative coolers, and ineffectual ones at that.

“My pedestal fans work better than these units, they are a total scam!” said one angry client quoted in FranceInfo. 

Models including ‘Epicooler’, ‘Coolizy’ or ‘Coolizi’, ‘Breezo’, and ‘Jiuberry’ have all been highlighted among the most common fraudulent products by several French media outlets.

These products benefitted from a series of fake advertisements – including partnerships with social media influencers on TikTok – bogus reviews and videos promoting them, and even A.I. generated articles about the ‘innovation’ behind them, fooling hundreds of customers. 

Now, however, hundreds of negative online reviews single them out as scams, and several news sources have warned consumers over the risks of buying these ‘units’ that are in reality nothing more than fans with a serious mark-up price.

How to avoid air-con scams

While these brands have been blemished by negative reviews and journalist investigations, similar scams are likely to continue with summer lasting several more weeks. 

The main tip to avoid fraudulent products is to buy units in-person at a trusted DIY or hardware store, either via a local trusted store or a nationwide chain (Leroy Merlin, Bricorama, Darty, Fnac, etc). 

While this may be more expensive, you will benefit from buying a legitimate product from a trusted source, as well as the usual legal protections for buying a good in-store, company warranties, etc. 

If you cannot visit a store in-person, you can often buy units from store websites to be delivered to your home.

With France looking to combine the ecological transition and heatwave-relief by promoting heat pumps, these are becoming an attractive option, albeit they still have a significantly higher up-front cost. 

When shopping online, if the website is unfamiliar to you then one way to reduce risk is to check that it is based in France – many scams sell products through international websites based elsewhere in Europe, China, or even the US. 

Check a website’s URL (address) and legal notices to see where it is based. 

Before purchasing an item, check whether prices (either for the same product or similar products) correspond to those found elsewhere. 

If the prices are significantly higher or lower than counterparts, this is a tell-tale sign of an illegitimate business. 

Fraudulent sites can be reported to the government’s SignalConso website, the official place to report scams. 

If you have been the victim of a scam based in France, you can also report it through the Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (French consumer protection and fraud enforcement agency).

However, compensation requests can only be made via the consumer mediator or by filing a complaint with France’s civil court.

French authorities cannot easily intervene in international scams, however.

For scams based in Europe, you can file a request through the European Small Claims Procedure (for disputes of up to €5,000). 

For those based elsewhere, you can report it through the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network, but it is uncertain you will receive funds back, particularly from websites based in non-Western countries.