UOKiK he was getting messages from Orange customers who were surprised by the higher bills and did not know what the charges were for.
The reports showed that the services were activated unconsciously – by clicking on the so-called flash an SMS, a link on a website, an advertisement in a mobile game, as well as using a SIM card in the router. We checked the way of activating these services, the rules of adding fees to the bill for this content and responses to complaints
– said Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.
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UOKiK looked at Orange’s practices
UOKiK’s proceedings concerned:
- non-telecommunications services provided by Orange (activated, inter alia, via flash SMS notifications and clicking the “OK” button by the consumer after receiving it). It concerns the following services: “Where is the child”, “Protect children in the network”, “Orange Navigation”, “CyberTarcza” and “Secure PESEL”,
- third party services billed by the operator using “Order with Orange” (so-called direct billing, where the fee is automatically added to the bill). These are, for example, GAMEMINE, KidzInMine, VIDIX.mobi.
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Most of the services were subscription services and the fees were, for example, PLN 7.98 / month or even PLN 14.99 / week. In the proceedings, UOKiK questioned the lack of indication that clicking the “OK” button means an order with an obligation to pay, no confirmation of contract terms on a durable medium (the practice was discontinued in the course of the proceeding in November 2020) or providing incomplete replies to complaints.
Orange will pay compensation to customers
UOKiK decided that Orange will have to pay compensation to customers who had the unwanted service activated. This applies to people who unknowingly paid additional paid services and non-telecommunications services. The compensation will be double the amount prices activated content. Former clients can also apply for compensation. Complaints should be submitted to the company in this regard, details of obtaining it can be found in the decision of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection at THIS address.
In addition, complaints are now to be dealt with in a more transparent way – the answer is to contain information about the method of charging to the bill, the name of the activated service, information about who is providing it, how to activate and deactivate it, and the possibility of blocking.
UOKiK also obliged Orange to stop using flash SMS-that
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