• Good news for consumers misled by the telecommunications operator PGT.
• The One Debt Partners debt collection company must withdraw its claims against debtors from courts and initiate discontinuance of enforcement proceedings.
• This is the result of a decision of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), which is immediately enforceable.

In autumn 2018 UOKiK initiated proceedings against the One Debt Partners (ODP) debt collection company from Wrocław. In February 2017, the company purchased receivables from PGT from Warsaw. It is a telecommunications company which has been misleading consumers by impersonating their current operator. One and a half months before the transaction, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued a decision in which it imposed a fine of PLN 1.97 million on PGT. Earlier, UOKiK had also published a consumer warning against the company.

- One Debt Partners should not collect debts incurred as a result of illegal activities of PGT. Professional diligence requires that sources of purchased receivables be checked before the transaction. The accusations against PGT have been well known for about a year now. The case was dealt with by UOKiK and the prosecutor's office, and was repeatedly reported by the media - says Marek Niechciał, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

This is not the only accusation against ODP. The debt collection company has also been misleading and putting pressure on consumers:

• it sent out requests for payment with a warning that it would transfer the debtor's data to the InfoMonitor Economic Information Bureau, even if the amount concerned was only about PLN 100. However, according to the law, consumer data may be sent to the EIB only when the value of liabilities is higher than PLN 200,
• it did not inform consumers that the purchase of debts does not make their situation any worse - they could raise the same claims against ODP as they had against the PGT prior to the transaction,
• at the same time it brought action before the court and sent requests for payment to consumers. It had not previously contacted the debtor in order to unequivocally determine the amount due and to offer to settle the matter amicably. This is contrary to good morals, particularly as it concerned claims arising in dubious circumstances.

- The contested practices were intended to induce consumers to pay the amount claimed, even if it was undue. ODP threatened them with court action or with disclosure in the register of debtors. Many people, as a result of such suggestions and a lack of information, could have refrained from exercising their rights - says Marek Niechciał, President of UOKiK.

ODP already abandoned such practices in spring of 2017. The decision of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection obliges the company to remove their effects. The company must withdraw all claims relating to debts arising from agreements with PGT and contact bailiffs about discontinuance of all such enforcement proceedings. It has three months to do so since the issue of the UOKiK's decision. Furthermore, it must refrain from initiating new enforcement proceedings until the final judgement of the court in the case concerning PGT has been issued. This obligation is immediately enforceable. This means that ODP must execute it, even if it appeals against the decision.

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