In the communication Office of Competition and Consumer Protection it is noted that proceedings against UPC Polska was initiated on the basis of complaints sent by the company’s customers along with copies of concluded contracts.
– I wanted to terminate the contract concluded with UPC earlier. After telephone contact I received information that if I terminated the contract in August this year. the fine is PLN 11,000. The contract was concluded in March 2021 for 2 years. The cost of the entire contract is approximately PLN 3,100 – wrote in one of the complaints.
– On September 30, 2021, the operator set the deadline for its termination on November 1, 2021, with a penalty for termination of the contract before the end of the commitment period in the amount of PLN 2,085.15. I would like to mention that there are 7 months left to the end of the contract and counting PLN 89 of the fees, the payment amount would be less than PLN 630 – another client of UPC Polska stated.
According to complaints, UPC Polska charges too high fees from resigning customers
The Office emphasizes that z analysis of complaints and concluded contracts shows that UPC Polska may reserve inadequately high fees for early termination of the contract – they exceed the value of these contracts (the sum of subscription fees). As a consequence, customers would have to pay more for the termination of the contract than if they paid monthly for UPC services.
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– The proceedings will show whether the operator of UPC Polska overstates the discounts granted to consumers, which are the basis for calculating the fee for termination of the contract – announces Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.
– The complaints show that the total costs related to the termination of the contract may exceed the total costs related to the continuation of the contract. This can lead to a situation where the consumer is forced to continue the service for fear of a disproportionately high fee – he adds.
The announcement from UOKiK reminded that, according to the regulations, if a consumer terminates a contract with a telecommunications operator before its end, the latter has the right to charge a fee. Such a fee may not be higher than the discount granted to the consumer, less the time for using the services. The amount of the discount is indicated in the contract – it is about concluding a contract on promotional terms.
Proceedings of the President of UOKiK regarding infringement of collective consumer interests may end with the imposition of a fine of up to 10%. annual turnover of the punished company.
UOKiK indicated in the announcement that conducts similar explanatory proceedings against Netia and Vectra – so far in the case, not against these companies. The Office checks whether operators reserve fees for terminating the contract by consumers that are higher than the total amount of the subscription.
It was added that the president of UOKiK “does not rule out further actions against other entities”.
After the decisions of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, UPC Polska customers received returns
In the fall of 2020. on the basis of a legally valid decision of the President of UOKiK, UPC Polska compensated customers for the increases in fees for the Internet service introduced in 2015-2016, which the Office found to be inconsistent with the contracts. The operator’s subscribers received several variants of compensation.
In February last year UOKiK legally obligated UPC Polska to reimburse customers for the UPC Safety Package service, which it included without their consent. Customers received a refund of up to PLN 54 through reduced accounts.
In turn, in mid-2020 UOKiK questioned several practices used by employees of UPC Polska, mainly in telephone sales calls. It was, among others, for not informing customers about their right to withdraw from the contract and not confirming the terms of amending the contract proposed by the company, and assuming the implementation of installation works at the customer’s home by the company’s technician, before the consumer confirms it on paper or other durable medium.
UPC Polska undertook to introduce appropriate changes in procedures, and to offer compensation to clients who have complained about these violations.
Play will pay PLN 7 billion for UPC Polska
At the end of September last year UPC Polska had 1,548 million customers and 3,307 million digital subscriptions sold. In the first three quarters of last year the operator recorded USD 344.9 million in revenues, USD 83.9 million in operating profit and USD 44.3 million in net profit.
In the second half of September last year P4, the operator of the Play network, has concluded a 100 percent purchase agreement. shares of UPC Polska from Liberty Global. The price is PLN 7bn, in the P4 announcement it was stated that “it corresponds to the EBITDAaL multiplier for 2020 at the level of 9.3x before the synergy effects and about 7x taking into account the revenue and cost synergies”
The transaction is to be finalized in the first half of 2022 after obtaining the approvals of the antitrust authorities. In December P4 signed a loan agreement in the amount of PLN 5.5 billion for partial financing of the purchase of UPC Polska.
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