Stéphane Burgatt, edited by Julien Moreau
modified to
08:08, February 16, 2023
Expensive insurance. Thousands of euros were unjustly taken from customers who had insured their phones and computers against breakage. The victims are meeting this Thursday, February 16, in front of the headquarters of Indexia (formerly SFAM) in Romans-sur-Isère.
The telephone insurer, Indexia (ex-Sfam), the group that owns the Hubside.Store stores, is summoned before the Paris commercial court for “misleading commercial practices”. Thousands of euros were unjustly taken from former customers who had insured their phones and computers against breakage. These contracts had been taken out in Hubside.Store stores or even at FNAC, which has since broken the partnership.
“They siphoned me off”
Former customers denounce the practices of the insurer, already fined by the repression of fraud in 2019 for an amount of 10 million euros. While a bill has just been filed to regulate the practices of insurers, a collective legal action has been brought against Indexia on April 3 at the Paris court.
On social networks, potential victims continue to appear throughout the country. The story always seems to be the same. “I see that I have €100 left in my account, they siphoned me off,” says Emmanuelle, a former client. At the start, the situation is simple, she signs an insurance contract for her laptop computer and she is told that she will be charged twice for an amount of €7 and then an amount of €15. But the situation is quickly deteriorating. “Over four and a half years I have 234 SFAM samples. Several times a month. Several times a day. For an undue total amount of €5,519, in addition to the initial contract that I do not count”, adds -She.
Up to €300 withdrawn each month
Same misadventure for Yann who reports attempts to cover his tracks on the part of Hubside.Store. “At first, it was very small sums of €7. Afterwards, they added contracts that I did not subscribe to between €30 and €70. The direct debits went under several different names. By taking all the mandates with the bank we found that it came from the same company. I was rather annoyed because it made direct debits at €300 per month when I had signed for €15.99”, he added. Since then, Yann has opposed the levies and filed a complaint pending reimbursements which are still pending despite the insurer’s promises.