• Attractive or misleading offer? Beware, you may be paying more!
• Presenting discounted prices as if they were standard prices - that’s what the President of UOKiK is questioning.
• P4 and Netia face fines of up to 10% of turnover.

Price is the factor that attracts attention and by which offers can be compared. The amount of monthly fees for services provided is often a key factor in deciding whether to consider and contract with a particular operator. Consumers should be clearly informed from the outset about how much they are paying and what they are paying for, as well as the possible terms of that price. The President of UOKiK questioned the practices of telecommunications operators P4 and Netia and charged the companies with presenting prices including optional discounts in a way that could be misleading.

Presenting a price with a discount

Both P4 (Play network operator) and Netia, in advertising messages and during telephone sales calls, present prices of their services that include discounts - PLN 5 each per month for expressing marketing consents and for choosing electronic invoicing. Consumers may not know that the price is conditioned by something. Depending on the means of communication (advertising, chatting with a consultant), companies do not present the price without discounts or information about the types and amount of discounts included in the price, or they do it in an illegible way or at too late a stage of the agreement. Customers who ultimately do not want to use e-invoicing or agree to marketing must pay a total of PLN 10 more in monthly subscription fees than the offer they opted for indicated.

- Presenting discounted prices as if they were standard prices can be misleading. Entrepreneurs - by stating a lower price - gain the interest of customers who do not know that the offer requires additional conditions to be met. Consumers have the right to expect that the price quoted in advertisements, as well as by a telephone consultant, is the one they will pay. If it depends on something, it must be clearly communicated to consumers right away - says President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

Price information should be clear and legible, and entrepreneurs should quote prices that are not subject to any conditions. If they also present the price after discounts for meeting certain requirements, then it is their duty to indicate what the discount applies to, the amount of the discount and the rules for granting it.

If the charges are confirmed, P4 and Netia may face a penalty of up to 10 percent of turnover.

Other activities regarding the presentation of telecommunications prices are also underway. The President of UOKiK has already brought charges against Vectra and Multimedia, and in case of Orange, CANAL+, T-Mobile and Polkomtel (Plus network operator) he is conducting preliminary investigation.