Poland - Misleading advertising - Telecom Media, PTC & P4
Misleading advertising, incomplete information in sms lottery and unlawful sending out messages encouraging to take part in a contest – these are practices of Telecom Media, P4, PTC and P4 challenged by the President of UOKiK
Every fourth person uses the so called Premium Rate sms (the sms service at the higher fee) at least once a week, over a half of such consumers apply it at least once a quarter. 30.5 percent of consumers use this type of service a few times a year. Most frequently via sms we pay for the participation in contests, charity events, music and games – as reveals the data collected in 2011 by the OEC (pl. UKE; the Office of Electronic Communiactions). We should always be provided with reliable and complete information as regards the price of the message. The information concerning contest regulations must not be misleading. The President of UOKiK challenged the practice applied by Telecom Media, Polskiej Telefonii Cyfrowej and P4.
The proceedings against Telecom Media were instituted in July 2011. Text and voice messages persuading consumers in 2010 to take part in the lottery Wielki Quiz z Nagrodami Edycja IX (Great Quizz with Awards IX Edition) raised doubts of UOKiK. The Office established that such messages were sent out to consumers who had not agreed beforehand to receive business information from the undertaking. Furthermore, the messages implied that a given subscriber had already got or would get a prize right after sending back a respond, e.g. URGENT: transfer protocol of PLN 60 thousand and Sony Home Cinema system are waiting for you. We want to enter the surname of the owner of phone_NUMBER. In fact, sending back a text message guaranteed the participation in the lottery only. The messages sent to consumers contained neither the information on the trade name of the contest organizer nor the price of sending a message by participants to the contest. Moreover, they failed to inform that the contest terms were determined in the regulation available at the company website and sending back the sms meant the acceptance of its terms and conditions. The President of the Office decided Telecom Media misled consumers and fined the undertaking with PLN 113 105. Additionally, the company is obliged to publish the entire decision on its website for the period of three months.
Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa in 2009 also encouraged consumers to take part in lottery 100 Mercedes from Era by sending out sms to consumers who did not give their consent to receive any commercial information. Many consumers wouldn’t have taken part in the contest but for SMS and MMS received from the operator.
The President of UOKiK stated that the company violated collective interests of consumers, however, the President resigned from imposing a fine when PTC commited to change the practice, i.e. send marketing messages only to persons who have agreed to that. Moreover, the harmed consumers will be given a compensation – additional packages of minutes and redress of PLN 500. In addition to that, PTC must transfer PLN 311 thousand as a donation to Kid Protect foundation aimed at holding and conducting classes for pupils of primary school, class 4-6, parents and teachers within the safe use of telephone and the Internet. It is essential for the undertaking to establish and publish a guidebook for using the Premium services, which are applied inter alia in lotteries and contests held by PTC. The company will enable its subscribers to set a limit to using sms services of the premium rate.
Moreover, the Office questioned the information provided by Play during the advertising campaign. The proceedings were initiated in December 2010 and regarded the promotion campaign of Play Fresh carried out in 2009. According to UOKiK, when the company P4 was using the slogan Free SMS in Play Fresh, in a part of adverising materials it failed to place information concerning the time limits for using free text messages within the offer. In fact, the time allowed for sending free of charge messages was greatly limited, and additionally dependent on the value of charge (e.g. a minimum charge value PLN 50 – 50 days). A consumer aware of the shorter period of time for using free sms than the validity period of the purchased card (365 days) possibly wouldn’t have used the company’s offer. For misleading consumers the President of UOKiK imposed on P4 a fine amounting to PLN 495 655.
Telecom Media appealed to the court against UOKiK’s decision. P4 still has a chance to lodge an appeal whereas PTC has already done it.
Consumers can watch the educational film available at the website of the Office of Electronic Communications as well as gain information on how to recognize the real price of a text message. Moreover, they can obtain free of charge assistance from consumer ombudsmen under 800 007 707, Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm and at the branches of Consumer Federation. The Act on combating unfair commercial practices may also facilitate the process of seeking redress as it provides for bringing consumers’ action to court in individual disputes with undertakings. In the course of such proceedings the court verifies whether a given commercial practice of an undertaking is unfair. Then it is the undertaking who has to prove before the court that the applied commercial practice is not misleading to consumers.