• Did you have to pay to contact the Orange or nju hotline while having free package calls? Get reimbursed soon.
• President of UOKiK has obliged Orange Polska to do so.
• Find out if you are entitled to the reimbursement and how to get it.

The President of UOKiK has issued a decision challenging Orange Polska’s practices. The first was to charge for calls to Orange and nju mobile’s service hotlines even when the consumer used an offer in which they had free calls to mobile and landline networks as part of their package. What is more, charges were levied not only for the actual time of the call with the consultant but also, among other things, for the waiting time for such a call.

Orange Polska’s actions may have violated the Consumer Rights Act. The provision clearly indicates that the fee for a call to the number designated by the entrepreneur to contact about the concluded contract may not be higher than the fee for a regular telephone call according to the price list used by the consumer. If they have a free call offer, there should be no charge for trying to contact the service provider.

The second practice questioned by the President of UOKiK is charging fees (PLN 49) for diagnosing whether the damage reported in the consumer’s complaint occurred and which party had contributed to the damage.

The President of UOKiK has issued a decision requiring Orange Polska to fulfil the obligation.

– With the commitment to change its practices, Orange will reimburse the disputed fees to consumers. The ability to easily recover money is important in a situation where, due to the relatively low value of claims, injured parties may choose not to pursue their rights in a more complicated way, such as in court. I encourage everyone who was wrongly charged to apply for a reimbursement from Orange – says the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny.

Reimbursement for hotline calls

The imposed obligation applies to former and current customers on Orange and nju offers who:

• Called the hotline from 12 March 2022 to 12 March 2023.
• Entered into a new contract or changed its terms after 25 December 2014.
• At the time of contacting the hotline, had a package with unlimited calls to mobiles.
• Have not complained about the cost of calling the hotline or have received a negative response

What will consumers get?

Consumers who have been charged will be able to choose whether to receive a reimbursement or a one-time free data package - 30 GB for Orange callers and 9 GB for those who have used nju services. Existing customers of Orange and nju services will be able to fill out a special form available for 3 months from the date of its publication on the company’s website. Those who do not fill out the form will also receive a reimbursement. They will pay less for their bill (in postpaid offers) or get a top-up on their account (prepaid).

Consumers who are no longer customers of Orange and nju services can receive a reimbursement, but they will have to fill out a form on the company’s website to do so, for which they will have 3 months from the company’s publication of the decision.

Reimbursement of diagnosis fees

The company will stop charging for the technical assistance service of fault diagnosis. It will also reimburse collected fees of PLN 49 or multiples thereof. The reimbursement will be available to consumers who:

• From 7 June 2022 to the date the fee was discontinued, paid for the damage diagnosis. If they incurred this cost more than once, they will receive a multiple of PLN 49.
• Did not have a successful complaint about diagnostic fees.

Current and former Orange consumer customers will have to contact Orange via chat or a toll-free hotline within a certain timeframe. They will receive a reimbursement of PLN 49 or multiples of this amount to the bank account they provided.

Current Orange consumer customers who do not contact the company by the indicated deadline will also be reimbursed. The company will reduce their payments by PLN 49 or a multiple of that amount.

Practices of other operators

In addition to Orange Polska, the President of UOKiK has checked the practices of other three largest mobile operators regarding the charging of hotline contact fees. T-Mobile Poland and Polkomtel passed the verification and after the Office’s comments further improved their communications to consumers. They now inform that if a subscriber has packages of minutes (including so-called unlimited packages), calls to service hotlines will be included in them.

In the case of P4 (among others, the operator of the Play network), the President of UOKiK initiated a preliminary investigation during which the company changed its practices to favour consumers. Following the UOKiK’s intervention, as of 1 January 2023, consumers will pay for a call to P4’s hotline as for a domestic voice call to a mobile number on that network, according to the consumer’s offer. If they have free calls to Play, this also applies to calls to the hotline. If their offer includes a package of minutes, the call will be included in them. In a situation where calls to Play are charged or a package of minutes is used, the company will charge the call centre as specified in the offer price list but not more than the existing call price.