• Mobile Marketing Center misled consumers by suggesting subsidies for foreign language courses and offering “free” products that actually required payment.
• The undertaking considered transactions to be concluded despite the absence of the required statements provided on a durable medium, and also made it difficult for consumers to withdraw from the contract.
• The President of UOKiK imposed a fine of over PLN 2.2 million on the company and PLN 420,000 on the manager for wilfully allowing the infringements to occur.

The President of UOKiK issued a decision in which he found Mobile Marketing Center’s practices to be in breach of the collective interests of consumers. The proceedings revealed irregularities – ranging from a failure to provide full information during telephone sales to misleading online advertising.

– There is no tolerance for building a business model based on misinformation and manipulation. Mobile Marketing Center lured consumers with the prospect of highly attractive but non-existent course subsidies, as well as free offers that turned out to be chargeable. Such practices grossly undermine trust in the market and infringe upon consumers’ right to accurate information about price and product. They also expose consumers to real financial losses. The liability for deliberately misleading consumers must also have a tangible dimension, hence the financial penalties imposed on both the company and the managing director – says President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny.

Fictitious grants and “free” courses

Mobile Marketing Center sold multimedia language courses. It offered them to consumers via the website www.poliglotos.pl, as well as by telephone. It also used the speakking.pl website.

Under the funduszwsparcia.eu domain, the undertaking suggested that public funding was available for its courses, e.g. from the “European Fund for the Support of Foreign Language Learning and Education”. Consumers were led to believe that, thanks to these programmes, they could purchase courses with an 87% discount. An investigation by the President of UOKiK revealed that the fund in question never existed, and the entire narrative regarding “subsidies” served only to create a misleading impression of an exceptional price opportunity.

Offers for a “free course” followed a similar pattern. In reality, to receive the free materials, the consumer had to purchase another full-price product. Information about this key condition was often concealed or presented in an unclear manner.

Unfair marketing and failure to confirm contracts

A significant proportion of the infringements concerned telephone sales. During calls, the company’s consultants did not provide clear information about the commercial purpose of the contact or details identifying the undertaking, nor did they inform consumers of their right to withdraw from the contract. Furthermore, they treated contracts as having been concluded during the call, even though the law requires confirmation of the consumer’s consent on a durable medium.

Furthermore, the company unlawfully denied consumers the right to withdraw from contracts for the supply of digital content (multimedia courses), claiming that activation of the access code precluded this option, even though consumers had not previously been informed of the consequences of such activation.

Financial penalties

For the violation of collective interests of consumers, the President of UOKiK imposed a fine of PLN 2,232,000 on Mobile Marketing Center. The company’s managing director is also to bear financial liability, having been fined PLN 420,000 for wilfully allowing the violations of law to occur. The company must inform the consumers with whom it has concluded contracts of the decision. The decision is final and binding on Mobile Marketing Center, while the managing director has appealed it to the court.