WindTre he’s in trouble again. The mobile network operator has been fined by the Antitrust and must pay a fine fine of 5 million euros. The reason? It introduced a €2 increase without giving consumers the protections afforded by the Consumer Act. In practice – the Antitrust argues – the operator has imposed a contractual change under the guise of an additional option.
The service in question – voice and internet – predicted one surcharge of 2 €. This service would have been activated between December 2021 and May 2022 without the explicit consent of consumers. There are 11 million customers who are forced to pay for the extra service.
This maneuver – an increase imposed by the consumer’s implicit consent – constitutes a violation of theArticle 65 of the Chamber of Commerce. The issue has been referred to antitrust interests by the consumer rights association Aduc, which, however, speaks of a half-win.
L’Aduc claims that the fine is negligible as WindTre would have made extremely higher revenues thanks to this “trick”. The association estimates between 90 and 225 million euros in additional income. But the hands of the authority were tied: 5 million euros is the maximum fine provided for by Italian law for this type of violation.
In short – we read between the lines of the Aduc epithets -, in the absence of sanctions commensurate with turnover, companies essentially have an incentive to behave in this way.
Source: Lega Nerd
