AGCM

The Company promoted in a misleading way the Verisure alarm system,  hindered the right to withdraw from contracts and automatically activated the service during the cooling-off period recognised by law to consumers

 The Italian Competition Authority has imposed a fine of 4.25 million euro on Verisure Italy S.r.l., a supplier of alarm systems and related services, for four conducts in violation of the Consumer Code.  The company carried out misleading promotional activities from 2021 to 30 October 2023 through various communication channels (television commercials, billboards, website). Specifically, it omitted or failed to highlight that, by signing the contract, the Verisure alarm system and devices were not actually purchased but were, instead, only received on a free loan.

From 2022, in the phase of withdrawal from the contract, the company adopted aggressive behaviour with a series of actions designed to hinder the termination of the relationship, such as failing to accept or delaying the acceptance of requests for withdrawal, continuing to send invoices in the months following the termination of the service and delaying the de-installation of or failing to de-install the alarm systems.

 In addition, since 2019, Verisure began to provide the service immediately, despite being in the cooling-off period, without an express request from the customer, as provided by the Consumer Code. This immediate start was automatic with the signing of the contract prepared by the company. Finally, the instruction - included in the contractual conditions from 2019 to 30 October 2023 - relating to the competent court to which the consumer should turn in the event of a dispute with the company, was also ambiguous: it was not clearly stated that the competent court, as required by the Consumer Code, is the one with territorial jurisdiction over the consumer’s place of residence or domicile.

Rome, 26 March 2024