• The Office received complaints about high fees upon early termination of contracts by consumers.
• President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny initiated proceedings against UPC Polska, suspecting that the operator may be violating collective consumer interests.
• There are also ongoing investigations into Netia and Vectra - also concerning the possibility of stipulating excessive cancellation fees.

UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny initiated proceedings against cable television operator UPC Polska. The proceedings concern the possibility of companies stipulating fees in excess of the contract value when a consumer cancels services before the end of the contract (e.g. for Internet access or cable TV). Consumers have notified the Office of the operator's actions – below are selected complaints:

"(...) I wanted to terminate the contract concluded with UPC before its expiry. After calling the company, I received information that if I had terminated the contract in August of this year, the fine would be PLN 11,000. The contract was concluded in March 2021 for 2 years. The cost of the whole contract is approx. PLN 3100. (…)”.

"(...) On 30 September 2021, the operator indicated the day of 1 November 2021 as the date of its termination with a penalty for termination of the contract before the end of the commitment period in the amount of PLN 2,085.15. I would like to mention that there were 7 months left until the expiry of the contract and counting the fees at PLN 89 each, the amount to be paid would be less than PLN 630. (…)”.

According to the law, if a consumer terminates a contract with a telecommunications provider before the end of its term, the latter has the right to charge a fee. Such fee shall not exceed the discount granted to the consumer, less the time of use. The amount of the discount is indicated in the contract – this refers to concluding a contract on promotional terms. An analysis of the complaints and the contracts concluded shows that UPC Polska may charge inadequately high fees for early termination of the contract – they exceed the value of these contracts (the total amount of subscription fees). The cited complaints indicate that consumers would have to pay more for the termination of the contract than if they paid for UPC services every month.

"The investigation will determine whether UPC Polska overstated the discounts granted to consumers, which are the basis for calculating the termination fee. The complaints suggest that the total costs associated with terminating a contract may exceed the total costs associated with continuing the contract. This may lead to a situation in which the consumer is forced to continue the service for fear of a disproportionately high fee," says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The investigation concerning the infringement of consumers' collective interests may result in a penalty of up to 10% of the turnover.

The above action is not the only one performed by the President of UOKiK in this respect. Investigations are underway against Netia and Vectra, in which the Office is checking whether the operators stipulate termination fees for consumers that are higher than the amount of the subscription. The President of UOKiK does not rule out further action against other entities.

Consumer support:

Tel. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
Email: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or county

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL