• There were supposed to be free-of-charge immunity tests and medical advice. Instead, there was product quoting and misleading consumers as to the properties.
• President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has imposed a fine of almost PLN 91 thousand on the POLMEDIQ company.
• Additionally, members of its management board will suffer from financial consequences.

One of the principal areas of the POLMEDIQ company activity is to invite consumers to immunity tests. The President of UOKiK has received complaints in connection with irregularities pertaining to the course of those tests and invitations themselves which had encouraged the consumers to take advantage of the services rendered by the facility. After the proceedings and inspection were carried out, the President of UOKiK issued a decision in which he challenged four of the company practices and imposed a fine of almost PLN 91 thousand (PLN 90,952) on the company. In the course of the proceedings, UOKiK employees assumed activities aimed at purchasing products offered by the POLMEDIQ company which contributed to the enriched evidence.

- The POLMEDIQ company has been knowingly misleading consumers by inviting them to free-of-charge tests and failing to inform them that the meetings would be of commercial nature and the alleged tests would not be performed by a physician but rather by a sales representative. Manipulating consumers was also reflected in offering them some products which didn’t have the properties as declared and in making an impression of an extraordinary bargain. This could affect consumer decisions and induce them to make unnecessary and unprofitable purchases. An especially shocking is the fact that the seniors, who are a particularly vulnerable social group, were primarily exposed to the practices by POLMEDIQ - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

Contested practices

1. Failure to disclose, in the invitations addressed to consumers, the information of a commercial nature of those invitations and tests held.

The company invites persons aged 40-85 to have free-of-charge immunity tests, declaring provision of medical advice and a referral to a morphology test. Invitations are sent to consumers via leaflets and the website. However, it fails to inform that the actual objective of the meeting is to present the company’s offer and inducing consumers to purchase its products.

2. Providing consumers with some information which may be misleading
   as regards their health condition.

A person who is neither a dietician nor a physician is responsible for medical interview, testing immunity with the use of a device intended for analysing bodily composition as well as their interpretation in a POLMEDIQ facility. It is a sales representative referred to as a diagnostician who uses patients’ results with an intention to present the commercial offer of the facility. What follows is that consumers might have been misled as to their health condition, their ailments and subsequent diagnosis only in order to take a decision to purchase products and services offered by the company.

3.  Misleading information as regards healing properties of a matt.

Persons purchasing woollen pads for rehabilitation training receive instructions for use which were developed not by a manufacturer but rather by POLMEDIQ. What follows from these instructions for use is that matt offered by the company is intended for magneto-therapy with a direct magnetic field. They elaborate on some basic impact of the magneto-therapy and illnesses in which it is used. This, however, does not correspond with any data from this product’s entry in the register of medicinal products. The manufacturer fails to provide information regarding magnetic properties. What follows is that the medical use of the matt is much narrower that the trader states.

4. Conveying false information on subsidising the “Krok po zdrowie” (“Step to Health”) programme

During the immunity tests held, consumers are offered to participate in the “Krok po zdrowie” (“Step to health”) programme. POLMEDIQ offers two medical packages which differ in the range of the services provided and goods offered. Catalogue prices of the packages are high; still, the company informs its consumers about a promotional price of the package offered as part of the participation in the scheme and calls this promotion a “reimbursement”. UOKiK has found that the sales had never been held at catalogue prices, consumers then have always been misled about the existence of a special bargain. The information on a capacity to take advantage of the reimbursement might have affected their purchasing decisions.

The President of UOKiK ordered the company to immediately cease and desist the contested practices. Once the decision becomes final, the company will also have to notify all consumers with whom it has entered into contracts about it.

Responsibility of managers

The fine for violating the collective interests of consumers will be borne not only by the company. The financial consequences were also imposed on POLMEDIQ managers: Krzysztof Paweł Polus - PLN 26,000 and Martyna Polus - PLN 26,000 in connection with an intentional permission to violate collective consumer interests by the company. The decision of the President of UOKiK is not final, the company and its managers may appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

As far as the sales representative of the company is concerned, who diagnosed patients without necessary entitlements, we have submitted a notification at the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Consumer Support:

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