Italian antitrust watchdog AGCM has fined Telecom Italia (TIM) a total of EUR 4.8 million for breaching the country’s consumer code in its ‘winback’ offers designed to persuade former customers to return. Infringements included the failure to provide “clear and immediate” information on the personalised winback offers for customers contacted by call centres or via SMS. The watchdog said the offers only indicated the basic conditions of the proposed plan (cost and data) while omitting any additional information on additional costs and restrictions on use.
The operator also breached conditions of the consumer code regarding customer acceptance of the offers, in that it pre-activated different services and / or additional options, with additional costs, without seeking the prior and express consent of customers. As a result, AGCM concluded that TIM’s conduct may be considered liable to mislead consumers with regard to the content of the offer and persuade them to make a commercial decision they wouldn’t otherwise have made.
Last month, the regulator fined Vodafone and Wind Tre a total of EUR 6 million and EUR 4.3 million respectively for similar consumer code breaches.
