The Dutch Consumer Authority has imposed several fines totaling €303,000 on UPC Nederland for breaching the law on direct selling. When UPC started its digital marketing campaign it sent people the Mediabox set-top without asking their permission. The campaign angered many UPC customers, who complained to consumer organisations.
The Consumer Authority found that the operator breached the rules on direct selling on a number of counts, including sending set-top boxes to people who said they did not want to receive one, failing to tell customers a monthly charge was due following the free trial period and also failing to inform people of the exact conditions.
UPC can appeal against the decision by the Authority, but probably will not do so. A spokesperson said the digital strategy has already been changed. The operator now has 562,000 digital subscribers out of a total of 2,118,600 homes.
