Stampa

Free discount cards: promotional campaigns suspended for three different companies


PRESS RELEASE


PRESS RELEASE


FREE DISCOUNT CARDS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY ORDERS IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF PROMOTIONAL TELEPHONE CAMPAIGNS FOR THREE COMPANIES. REPRESENTATIVES OFFERING FREE COUPONS SOLICIT SIGNATURES ON UNCLEAR CONTRACTS FOR THE MANDATORY PURCHASE OF OVER FIVE THOUSAND EUROS IN HOUSEHOLD GOODS


Measures adopted from the Consumer Code due to the potential detriment of these practices to consumers. Other companies fined approximately 900,000 euros for analogous practices in 2008 and 2009.

Publicized by telephone as free coupons valid for periods ranging from three to five years at newly opening stores, representatives then visit future customers at home and have them sign unclear forms that actually reflect commitments to 5,000 or more euros of immediate purchases. These are the fidelity cards distributed by the three different companies whose promotional telephone activities were immediately suspended, as per Consumer Code regulations, by the Antitrust Authority. The companies are Style, New Company and Jolly, which also work with the Andromeda, Ciao, Calypso, Nuvola and Teorema brand names.
The Antitrust Authority's Call Center also received numerous complaints about an analogous commercial mechanism being used to deceive consumers: an initial telephone contact concerning the distribution of free cards or coupons for future purchases of household items, followed by a house call for gathering signatures on the related forms. Fifteen to twenty days later, a company representative delivers the products that the consumer supposedly committed to purchasing and demands immediate payment, refusing any chance to withdraw and threatening to take legal action against failures to pay.
The paperwork distributed by the three companies and examined by the Antitrust Authority indicates a generic commitment to spend a specific sum, but it does not indicate any specific prices or products that consumers commit themselves to purchasing. In essence, the companies are masking the sale of household items in the guise of free coupons.
In a meeting on August 5th, the Antitrust Authority ordered the three companies to suspend such behaviors due to the highly invasive nature of the commercial practices in question, which a first examination deemed to be unfair. According to the Consumer Code, failure to respect an Antitrust Authority ruling is punishable with 10,000 to 150,000 euros in fines. For repeated failures to comply, the Antitrust Authority may order a suspension of company activities for up to 30 days.
The phenomenon in which fidelity cards mask the actual sale of items has already been sanctioned by the Antitrust Authority, which issued fines of about 900,000 euros to 5 different companies in 2008 and 2009.

Rome, 17th August 2010