The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has decided that Vectra should return payments to customers for services activated without their consent, the Office said.
“Inclusion of additional, paid services must always be done with the express, informed consent of the consumer. It is about ensuring a real choice and the possibility of refusing. The consumer should decide whether the provision is needed by him and whether he wants to incur the costs associated with him, which go beyond the agreed fee for the basic service, e.g. access to the Internet or television,” said Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
The Authority contested the Vectra practices used by the operator before 11 May 2020. Some promotional offers, based on which Vectra entered into contracts with subscribers, provided for the automatic launch of antivirus software under the name “Safe Internet”. In this case, its activation was a requirement to obtain favourable terms of telecommunications services and could not be abandoned at the time of the conclusion of the contract. Depending on the offer, only for the first two or four months the service was free. Then, if the consumer did not take action to resign from the additional service “Safe Internet”, it increased the subscription amount by PLN 6.90 per month.
“In accordance with the Consumer Rights Act, the inclusion of additional paid services must take place with the express consent of the subscriber. This should happen at the latest when it expresses its will to conclude the contract, and not at the very end of this process,” UOKiK statement said.
The President of UOKiK issued a decision in the Vectra case obliging. The company will positively consider the previously rejected complaints regarding the activation of the “Safe Internet” service and will return the funds collected for it (up to 24 payments, i.e. up to PLN 165.60). In addition, the increased fees for up to the first five invoices (up to PLN 34.50) will be refunded to all subscribers who have concluded a contract for the provision of Internet access services based on the terms of the promotional offer providing for the automatic activation of the additional service “Safe Internet” and resigned from it before receiving the fifth invoice.
The commitment applies to both current and former Vectra customers.
The decision is ilegitim. Vectra will begin to fulfil its commitment within the deadlines set out in the decision after it becomes final.
Vectra reports that it is the largest cable operator in Poland in terms of the number of subscribers.
Source: UOKiK and ISBnews
