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UPC is to pay compensation to customers. The UOKiK decided so

Decision No. DOZIK 8/2020 on UPC Polska was published by Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in mid-July. Proceedings in this case were initiated on December 11, 2018, on the basis of complaints from consumers regarding the procedures for concluding or extending distance contracts with UPC Polska.

UOKiK: UPC Polska used prohibited sales practices

In a decision OCCP we can read that the Office questioned several practices used by UPC Polska employees. It was mainly about telephone sales calls. Among others, not informing customers about their right to withdraw from the contract and not confirming the terms of changing the contract proposed by the company and assuming the implementation wash home plumbing fixtures by a company technician before the consumer confirms this on paper or other durable medium.

UPC Polska will change practices and pay compensation to clients

UPC Polska, having received these objections from UOKiK, undertook to introduce changes to the procedures of telephone sales calls that would eliminate the concerns raised by the regulator.

The office also ordered UPC Polska offer compensation to clients who, from December 25, 2014 to July 20, 2019 (or the date of discontinuation of the questioned practices in the case of some of them), filed complaints about these practices, and those complaints were negatively or partially positively considered by the company or the company has no data about them.

It was also indicated how the compensation should look like depending on the type of questioned practices. And so, people who are still UPC customers should have a choice of free services for two or three billing periods, such as mobile telephony, MAX TV service, increasing internet parameters to a higher level, Polsat Sport Premium package or fixed-line telephony package Minutes to All 60.

Also read: UPC with a huge penalty from UOKiK. PLN 33 million for deleting channels and unjustified fees

Persons who are no longer clients of UPC Polska are to receive from the company PLN 20-30 or free television, telephone or internet service, normally costing a minimum of PLN 10 a month for 2-3 months. In addition, the company is to present a message about the decision of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in this matter at the top of the home page of its website for two months.

UOKiK imposed a fine of PLN 33 million on UPC

How we wrote in Next.gazeta.pl, UPC Polska, a cable TV provider, broadband internet and telephone services, in 2019 he was fined by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for the use of prohibited clauses concerning, inter alia, the possibility of unilaterally increasing the cable subscription and changing essential conditions. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed a fine of PLN 33 million for these practices.

In the opinion of the office, the prohibited practices of UPC also consisted in the fact that the operator guaranteed “only the number of television channels on a specific subject, and not specific programs indicated in the list”. The operator has granted itself the right to any unilateral change, which is confirmed by consumer complaints. Meanwhile, many people chose UPC’s offer due to the availability of specific channels.

In addition, UPC in contracts with customers stipulated that it has the right to increase the subscription fee from PLN 5 to PLN 8 once a year without giving any reason. The operator was also to arbitrarily decide whether the technician’s visit was unjustified, for which the consumer was charged a fee of PLN 50. The assessment of whether the service was needed was one-sided and the consumer could not verify it. It could also discourage customers from submitting complaints.

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