• Has your parcel failed to be delivered on time or has been damaged? Epaka shortened for its consumers the timeframe for lodging complaints and simultaneously extended the statutory timeframe for responding to claims.
• Is the courier unwilling to sign the loss report? Epaka required this of you in order to lodge your complaint correctly.
• These are examples out of a range of abusive clauses applied by the entrepreneur. President of UOKiK has imposed a fine of PLN 5.8 million on the company.

Epaka company from Łuków (lubelskie province) has been running forwarding operations which means that it has been acting as an intermediary in courier services. At epaka.com website, consumers may settle all their formalities such as comparing offers, choose a carrier, ships a parcel and pay for it. On the other hand, the entrepreneur is responsible for the organisation of the transport order and, if need be, maintains correspondence or complaints handling procedure with the courier entity on behalf of customers.

Since 2 March 2018 until 3 August 2023, Epaka used a number of prohibited clauses in template in its agreements with consumers. In his decision, President of UOKiK challenged nine abusive clauses which were inclusive of various violations and imposed more than PLN 5.8 million (PLN 5,850,376) fine on the company.

 - Consumers expect true, reliable information from entrepreneurs and that their rights will be respected. Epaka used numerous provisions which were unfair for its customers, were misleading, imposed some additional duties on them with no grounds for this and obstructed the complaint-handling process. What is more, the company used clauses allowing it to freely modify the agreement on maintaining an individual account on its website which is inadmissible - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

A lot to impute

Following the analysis of the agreement templates it was found, among others, that Epaka:

• obligated its customers to accept the regulations of a selected carrier but it did not provide access to these documents which is necessary for consumers to be bound by the provisions contained in them,
• imposed, on parcel recipients, a groundless obligation to react immediately if the parcel had been damaged and to obtain a courier’s signature on the loss report,
• concluded that it did not bear any liability for the legitimacy of the carrier’s acts, including holding relevant permits and other formal requirements. At the same time, it is obvious that the forwarder should verify the entitlements and data of the entities whose services it offers,
• shortened the timeframe for lodging a complaint and simultaneously allowed for a capacity to exceed the statutory 30-day timeframe for responding to complaints,
• obstructed the complaint lodging procedure by way of imposing requirements related to attachment of some additional evidence and documents,
• reserved its right to modify the regulations but it did not provide any grounds or scope therefor. Meanwhile, modifications of continued obligations, and this is the nature of agreements on account maintenance on epaka website, concluded for indefinite time are conditioned by relevant specific provisions stipulated before the contract is concluded. They must clearly specify some important grounds authorising such actions.

The abusive clauses should be treated in the way as if they have never been inserted in agreements. More details on the challenged practices can be found in the decision by President of UOKIK.

The decision is not final, the company may appeal it.

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