Unwanted contracts: Vodafone must pay 10,000 euros
Following a dispute with two customers, the telecommunications provider Vodafone has been ordered to pay 10,000 euros. A corresponding fine was imposed, the Munich Regional Court announced on Friday in response to an inquiry. The Hamburg consumer advice center, which had filed the lawsuit, had previously made the facts of the case public. The decision is dated August 1 (Ref. 1 HK O 14157/19). The lawsuit was filed in Munich because Vodafone's cable company is based in neighboring Unterföhring. The telecommunications provider's German headquarters are in Düsseldorf.
The two Vodafone customers had terminated their landline contracts independently of each other in 2021 and 2022. The Vodafone hotline then called them and confirmed that they had canceled their contract - which is equivalent to a new contract. In the customers' opinion, however, they had not reversed the termination in the phone call and therefore had not concluded a new contract. The court agreed with this view.
"This fine sends a clear message to Vodafone: consumers must not be led around by the nose," said Julia Rehberg from the consumer advice center in Hamburg. A Vodafone spokesperson said that the fine had been accepted and emphasized the importance of competent advice. "The number of justified complaints about the conclusion of contracts is in the homeopathic per mille range compared to the number of contracts that are exactly what the customer wanted and are advantageous for them." Nevertheless, every complaint about unwanted contracts is one complaint too many.
Vodafone's dispute over unwanted contracts extends to telecommunications services such as landlines and Internet, affecting numerous consumers. The fine of 10,000 euros serves as a warning to telecom companies about consumer rights in contract cancellation processes.
Source: www.dpa.com
