Maya Manolova, head of Bulgaria's consumer protection commission (KZP), has asked other state bodies to act against a firm that sells products to patients at a state-run sanatorium at sales presentations held away from shops, the commission said.

KZP spoke to the health minister about the sanatorium today. After the talk, the bodies will take joint action to stop the scheme.

The tip came from an elderly patient at the sanatorium. She filed a complaint with KZP and came in person to Manolova's public reception yesterday.

According to the complaint, the firm invites people being treated at the sanatorium to presentations where it sells products. The woman was named the winner of a raffle, and the prize was a mattress worth €600. She says she was told she would get more products for an extra payment, including a pillow and mattress cleaning products.

About 60 people were in the hall. The woman, who was in a highly emotional state, was pushed to sign papers without time to read them. She paid €600 by debit card transfer and €80 in cash for the extra products. She did not get copies of the documents she signed.

The woman turned down the prize verbally, but KZP says she was forced to accept the mattress and the products. Two big men represented the firm. They refused to discuss cancelling the purchase with the woman's younger relatives.

The mattress and products did not arrive within the promised 14 days. When the woman tried to get her money back, firm representatives threatened her with violence and then stopped answering her calls. She says similar sales presentations were held at the same sanatorium during her earlier stays there for treatment.

Manolova has already held the first of her regular receptions for consumers in Sofia. People who signed up have questions. They ask how to challenge household bills and charges from mobile operators. They also ask about disputed clauses and general terms in contracts, unfair trading practices, online purchases and complaints about faulty products.

On Wednesday, 14 October, at 1:30pm, Manolova will meet people in Blagoevgrad, at the KZP regional office at 23 Todor Aleksandrov Street. The next reception in Sofia is on Thursday, 22 October, at 3pm at the KZP building at 1 Vrabcha Street, 4th floor. To sign up for either reception, call 02/ 9330 577 and ask for M. Koleva or E. Palpurina.

The KZP consumer hotline is 0700 111 22. In Sofia, complaints are taken at 1 Vrabcha Street, ground floor, from 9am to 5:30pm. Outside the capital, they are taken at KZP regional offices, whose addresses are on the commission's website.