In 2021, the fraud repression recorded nearly 5,026 consumer complaints relating to electronic communications companies. Unclear offers, breaches of the rules of distance selling… The DGCCRF has caught a quarter of market professionals.
In September, a mobile plan with unlimited calls and at least 10 GB of data costs on average 16.43 euros, according to the Ariase barometer. But behind the attractive prices, it is necessary to pay close attention to the contracts signed, recalls the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Repression (DGCCRF) in a survey of telephone operators or the internet.
According to her, more than a quarter of the 42 professionals checked are abnormal. Certain players may seek an advantage over their competitors by evading consumer protection rules or by resorting to unfair commercial practices, writes the DGCCRF.
In 2021, the repression of fraud accounted for nearly 5,026 consumer complaints regarding electronic communications companies. A significant proportion of these complaints concerned abuses concerning contractual and pricing changes that could not be refused by customers. The specific regulatory framework of Article L. 224-33 of the Consumer Code provides that, provided they are clear and they are notified at least one month in advance, a consumer can only accept changes made to their contract by their operator, except simply terminate their contract free of charge. However, some operators allow their customers to refuse the modification of prices if this is included in the contract, specify the investigators, without mentioning names.
The same year, the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir filed a complaint with the Paris Public Prosecutor against the operator SFR for misleading commercial practices concerning a mobile telephone offer. Faced with the fait accompli of an increase in the monthly price, the subscribers concerned had only the choice between two solutions: accept or cancel.
Encourage rapid subscription
Fraud control also denounces offers presented as time-limited, even though they are systematically renewed. The practice consists of offering attractively priced subscription offers by presenting them as time limits, for example by displaying a countdown, to encourage consumers to subscribe quickly. In reality, these offers follow one another at short intervals or overlap to result in a permanent offer which deceives the consumer, specifies the DGCCRF.
The organization was also the recipient of 90 complaints addressed to a company that charged hidden subscriptions for video services in particular. The complainants noticed an increase in the amount of their telephone bill after an unwanted subscription to one of the services offered by the company in question.