The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) issued a decision in relation to Polkomtel. It stated that Polkomtel used nine practices that breached the collective interest of the consumers.
It is related to nine services that are not included in the subscription fee, which Polkomtel automatically activated after signing an agreement. For the first month or two, they were free, after which the consumer had to cancel them, or pay additional fees. Depending on the service, it was from PLN 2 to even PLN 20 per month, and often, the operator would activate several services for one person.
The regulations of the act on consumer rights require that before signing an agreement, the entrepreneur should obtain express consent for each additional payment from the customer. In this case, it concerns payments for services which were not included in the subscription.
UOKiK fined Polkomtel PLN 3.,5 mln. Polkomtel must also advise the consumers of this by publishing the decision on its website. Additionally, it has to publish an announcement in two national newspapers and send registered mail to all subscribers, whom it charged at least once, with the fee for any of the automatically activated services.
