• If an entrepreneur makes its telephone number available for contacts on the contract concluded, the cost may not be higher than for a regular call.
• Since 1 January this year, this principle has also applied to carriers, such as air carriers, rail carriers or coaches.
• In connection with the indications of possible infringements, President of UOKiK conducts preliminary investigation in the case of Wizz Air Hungary and 30 other entrepreneurs.

Do you need information on a late bus or train or a cancelled flight? Do you call the help-line? Pay attention to the costs of your call. From 1 January 2023, carriers who make their help-lines available for contacts on the contract concluded are not allowed to freely determine the price of the call. According to Article 11 of the Consumer Rights Act, it cannot cost more than a regular telephone call in your price package with the operator.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has received signals that not all carriers have adapted to this amendment. One customer of Wizz Air indicated in the notice that "The only ACTUAL form of urgent contact for passengers from Poland (as in the case of flight cancellation) is scandalous PLN 4.92 per minute through the help-line. If you take account of the waiting time for a call centre agent, it can be assumed that the value of such a charge will be higher than the value of the purchased flight.”

- From the beginning of the year, consumers can no longer pay additional fees if they need to contact the carrier on the contract concluded – a ticket purchased, e.g. in connection with the place of departure, delay, ticket exchange or luggage destruction. Due to signals from consumers, as well as our own website monitoring activities, we have initiated two preliminary investigations in which we analyse the costs of telephone calls with entrepreneurs involved in passenger transport and through ticket sales – explains Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The first investigation is pending in the Wizz Air Hungary case. The cost of help-line for Polish consumers is PLN 4.92 per minute. The entrepreneur has not changed this despite two requests from the Office. The investigation is pending.

The second investigation is a comprehensive analysis of the costs of help-lines made available by carriers of persons, intermediaries and Internet platforms through which a passenger transport contract can be concluded. In the course of the investigation, we called for explanations from 30 entrepreneurs who inform about the increased fee for the hotline or provide a telephone number on their website without any information on the costs of the call. These include: 4 airlines, 16 bus carriers and 10 air, bus or rail ticket intermediaries. If further complaints are received or irregularities are identified by UOKIK on the websites of subsequent entrepreneurs, more entities will be affected by the investigation.

- I hope that the regulations will be observed, and consumers will be reimbursed for unduly charged fees. Otherwise, I do not exclude the initiation of relevant investigations which may result in fines and an order to remedy the consequences of the identified infringements” - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

Other preliminary investigations into Wizz Air

President of UOKiK has also examined, as part of the preliminary investigations, other problems with the Wizz Air line reported in complaints by consumers. For the time being all these investigations are pending and are not conducted against the entrepreneur, but their aim is to determine whether there has been an infringement justifying the company's charges of infringing the collective interests of consumers or of using abusive clauses. The investigations conducted against Wizz Air Hungary concern:

• an obligation to clearly provide the information on the lowest price of the service, which was in force within 30 days prior to the introduction of the reduction if the company informs about price discounts,
• cancelling tickets purchased as part of birthday promotion and rules for reimbursement for them,
• rules for the reimbursement of air tickets in the event of flight cancellation,
• terms and conditions of the “Flexible Travel Companion” service,
• complaint proceedings in the event of luggage destruction or damage – in this case we also investigate the activities of PS Services, to which Wizz Air refers consumers.

Hints and advice for consumers calling the help-line

When you contact on a contract already concluded, e.g. to clarify its details, to report problems with its implementation or to lodge a complaint, the cost of the call must not be higher than the charge for a regular call in your price package with the operator. Such a rule applies to the majority of entrepreneurs and, from 1 January 2023, also to the passenger transport sector.

If an entrepreneur violates the law and charges higher fees for a call on the contract concluded, do not hesitate to lodge a complaint and demand for reimbursement of unduly charged money for the call. You can benefit from free municipal or district consumer ombudsman assistance and, in cross-border cases, from the support of the European Consumer Centre operating at UOKiK.

Consumer Support:

Phone: +48 801 440 220 or +48 222 66 76 76 – consumer helpline
E-mail: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or district
European Consumer Centre – +48 22 55 60 600 – in cross-border cases involving the EU, Norway, Iceland and the United Kingdom

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone: 22 55 60 246
Email: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL
You can also follow us on Instagram: @uokikgovpl