• Consumers complained that flowers and gifts ordered for Mother's Day arrived late or did not arrive at all.
• Poczta Kwiatowa cites a contractual provision that excludes its liability in such situations.
• The President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny initiated proceedings to declare this clause unlawful, the company faces a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Last year, many customers of Poczta Kwiatowa were not satisfied with the services provided by this company during this holiday. They ordered bouquets or gifts for their mothers, and the entrepreneur failed to deliver them or the parcels arrived late.

"The flowers did not arrive on the specified day, my mother was left without a gift. You spoiled her whole day and surprise. Of course, no one answers on the phone, there is no contact with the customer. It's a disaster" - wrote one of the dissatisfied customers on Opineo.pl. Another customer stressed in a complaint to the Office: "I understand that 26 May is a special day, and the company has a lot of orders, but in such a case, they should limit the number of orders accepted and notify customers if they are unable to make a delivery on a given day."

- The entrepreneur may not exclude their liability for the non-performance or poor performance of a service. As professionals, they should prepare accordingly for holidays such as Women's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Grandmother's Day, Father's Day or Grandfather's Day, when there is a higher demand for flower or gift deliveries. For customers, it is particularly important to have the parcel delivered to the addressee on that particular day. If Poczta Kwiatowa is unable to fulfil orders on time, it should limit the number of orders it accepts. Then, consumers could, for example, look for another company or give flowers in person,' says Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

The President of UOKiK has reservations about one of the clauses included by Poczta Kwiatowa in the appendix to its terms and conditions: "Deliveries on Grandmother's Day, Grandfather's Day, Valentine's Day, Women's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day. We make every effort to deliver flowers within the selected time frame, however, we are not able to guarantee this in every case, despite exercising the due diligence required of a professional, due to a high volume of orders received on such days. The President of the Office initiated proceedings to declare this provision unlawful.

- Companies using such a clause try to free themselves of liability for damages for failure to provide a service, which is unacceptable,' says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

Consumer complaints also suggest that Poczta Kwiatowa does not have clear rules for handling complaints about delayed or undelivered parcels. The complaints made by some customers were rejected, other customers were refunded money for delivery on a specific day, offered a discount on their next order or sent a basket of sweets. In some cases, all or part of the amount paid was refunded but the consumers did not receive any information about what kind of compensation they may be entitled to.

Using unlawful clauses is punishable by a fine of up to 10% of the annual turnover.

Consumer support:

Phone: 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
E-mail: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or district

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: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL