Poland - UOKiK Branch Office in Warsaw - Did you become a millionaire today
Sending back a text message implied participation in the lottery and receiving paid text messages until the end of the lottery or until cancellation – this is one of the rules of the lottery “Did you become a millionaire today”, organized upon request of Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. The President of UOKiK imposed on the undertaking a fine exceeding PLN 21 million for providing unreliable information
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection received several hundreds of consumer complaints regarding the lottery “Did you become a millionaire today”, which was organised in the telephony networks operated by Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. Most people were not aware of how they took part in the lottery. The notifications indicate that the fact of participation in the lottery and the related costs became apparent after they received their phone bills. Concerns of the President of UOKiK were raised by the contents of the messages encouraging to take part in the lottery, received by PTC customers. For example: ERA: This is the time to change your life! You can win one million zlotys from Era today! Send a YES message to 8007 – It’s free! Messages to 8007 are free! Reg: 100m.era.pl PLN 4.88 /day.
The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection took action with respect to the lottery in November 2010. The lottery lasted from 25 October 2010 to 2 February 2011 and offered an opportunity to win a million zlotys. The basic condition for participation was the use of telecommunications services of PTC or purchasing mobile phone wallpaper, a ring tone or a game. To participate in the lottery, one just had to send back a text message to a specified number or answer a voice message by selecting the key tone "1". From this point participants received from PTC one text message per day, for which they had to pay PLN 4.88 VAT inclusive.
The Office determined that the information provided to customers suggested that the notification of participation in the lottery covered one day only. As it turned out – sending back a message implied participation in the lottery until its completion or sending a resignation, and receiving a paid text message every day. The complaints received by the Office suggested that many customers were convinced that participation in the lottery was a one off event.
Another practice questioned by President of UOKiK was the misleading information as to the costs of participation in the lottery. The text message encouraging to participate in the lottery stated that sending a message was free of charge, and at the end it said PLN 4.88/day. According to the Office, this way of communication was unclear and incomprehensible, and was intended to give the impression that the customer was not to incur any costs by taking part in the lottery.
The President of U
OKiK found that PTC had misled its customers by providing unreliable information on terms and conditions of the lottery. For the infringement of collective consumer interests PTC was fined PLN 21 262 842 and the duty to publish a decision on the website www.t-mobile.pl for a period of six months. The company ceased the practice. Decision is not final, the undertaking has the right to appeal to the court.
Consumers can receive free of charge assistance in pursuing their rights from consumer ombudsmen, or by calling toll-free number 800 007 707 open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. Pursuing the claims may also be facilitated by the Act on combating unfair commercial practices, which gives consumers the opportunity to bring an action in their individual disputes with entrepreneurs. In the course of such proceedings, the court shall verify whether the undertaking’s market practices are unfair. In this case, the entity must prove in court that its market practices did not mislead the consumers. Answers to frequently asked questions can be found on the website of UOKiK.
Read the press release.