Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has opened preliminary proceedings to investigate how and the extent to which telecommunications operators Polkomtel, Orange Polska and T-Mobile Polska make recordings of sales conversations available to consumers.

Consumers often choose to communicate with telecommunications operators using their customer service hotlines. They can receive information on the services rendered and make changes to existing contract conditions or establish the conditions of a new contract for the provision of telecommunications services. Conversations are usually recorded, a fact consumers are informed of by the operators.

It has come to UOKiK’s attention that consumers often do not have access to the content of those recordings, which is especially problematic during complaint procedures. At the same time, in responding to complaints, telecom operators argue that listening to the recorded conversations helps them ensure that the process of concluding or changing contracts has been handled properly.

“Consumers’ lack of opportunity to hear the recordings may be a significant violation of their rights. This is because the operator does have access to the recording of the sales record, and uses them to unilaterally interpret the findings, which remain beyond the control of the customer”, explains UOKiK President Marek Niechciał.

The imbalance in access to information has led UOKiK to initiate preliminary proceedings against Polkomtel, Orange Polska and T-Mobile Polska to determine the scope and manner with which they provide recordings of sales conversations. The Office also looked at the activity of the Play network, P4, which voluntarily changed its practices after UOKiK carried out what it calls a soft intervention. P4 now makes the conversations they have recorded available to consumers.

Telecommunications companies are required to both store and share the content of recordings of conversations during which a change has been made to a contract. Furthermore, service providers must by law store subscriber statements made over the phone and by other means of remote communication. The recording should be kept until the contract expires, and its content made available to subscribers above all in the course of the complaint procedure.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office, UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone.: +48 22 827 28 92, +48 22 55 60 314, +48 22 55 60 430
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl

Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL