• I am stalked by notorious phone calls; I am harassed on a daily basis - this is how complaining consumers described the intense, unwanted phone calls regarding photovoltaics.
• The President of UOKiK confirmed that Asmanta Call Center made phone calls without prior consent to contact. At the same time, it misled consumers by significantly overstating the amounts of subsidies that could be obtained.
• The President of UOKiK fined the company and its managers a total of nearly PLN 1.5 million.

Asmanta Call Center deals with telemarketing commissioned by its counterparties. Calls are made by consultants or through the participation of call automation software. Telemarketers and automated “bots” call consumers, including but not limited to, with the offer of photovoltaic installations and invite them to trade meetings. The entrepreneur also collects data of potential customers (so-called leads) during these telephone calls.

Calling people with commercial information who have not given their consent is not allowed by law, nor can consent be asked for at the beginning of the call. Such an unfair practice was carried out by Asmanta, which did not have the permission of telephone number owners for direct marketing. Consumers who had received numerous unwanted telephone calls filed their complaints to UOKiK. Some even claimed that they were harassing in nature and made their lives difficult. - I would like to complain about making life miserable with constant telephone harassment - the complaining consumer reported. Another person expressed their dissatisfaction - I’m not interested in photovoltaics, a free laptop or anything else. I am not interested in any marketing communication from any entity and especially do not wish to be harassed by robots.

Furthermore, during the calls, telemarketers provided false information that the consumer could count on a PLN 20,500 subsidy when making a photovoltaic micro-installation under the government’s programme “My Electricity Priority Programme Part 1) My Electricity Programme for 2021-2023”. In fact, the amount of the said subsidy for photovoltaics could amount to a maximum of PLN 5,000. When consumers raised doubts about the amount of subsidy, they were assured of the possibility of a high benefit. In order to encourage customers to install photovoltaics, the scenarios of the calls also included a scare about the risk of a so-called blackout, i.e. a power outage, or an increase in energy prices several times over.

- The telemarketing company Asmanta Call Center violated the collective interests of consumers. It made phone calls through consultants and automated software without consumers’ consent to contact. The intensity of the unwanted contacts and making it difficult to remove their phone number from the database were the most common reasons for consumer complaints. In addition, consumers were deliberately misled during the interviews by significantly overstating the amount of possible subsidies. I have imposed financial penalties on the company and its managers for these unfair market practices. I also ordered the immediate discontinuation of these practices - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The President of UOKiK imposed penalties totalling PLN 1,210,208 on Asmanta Call Center for breach of collective consumer interests. Financial sanctions were also imposed on the managers of Asmanta Call Center: Robert Person in the amount of PLN 150,000 and Marcin Sperka in the amount of PLN 100,000 in connection with deliberately allowing the company to violate the collective interests of consumers. 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.

The sanctioned Asmanta managers were previously linked to Euro Callcenter, which is no longer active in Poland and whose activities the President of UOKiK was looking into as part of the investigation. Concerns against Euro Callcenter included intrusive and unreliable telemarketing. Working for two companies engaged in the same activity and knowing the Authority’s previous concerns, the managers acted deliberately and are personally responsible for Asmanta’s fraudulent actions.

Due to the possibility of a criminal offence in connection with Euro Callcenter’s activities, the President of UOKiK has filed a notice with the National Public Prosecutor’s Office. The UOKiK is cooperating with law enforcement authorities by informing them of the initiation and progress of the investigation into Asmanta’s practices.

Consumer Support:

Phone: 801 440 220 or 222 66 76 76 – consumer helpline
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: 22 55 60 246
Email: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL
You can also follow us on Instagram: @uokikgovpl