The telephone operator Free Mobile is going through a particularly eventful end to 2024 with two consecutive sanctions for questionable commercial practices. The Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) has just imposed a transactional fine of 2.2 million euros.
Unfair practices on reimbursements
Between August 2020 and January 2022, Free Mobile engaged in deceptive commercial practices by deliberately delaying refunds to customers who canceled their mobile phone orders. Even more problematic, the operator had included in its general conditions of sale a clause allowing it to offset the sums due with other potential debts towards Free Mobile.
This fine is in addition to a recent conviction by the Paris Court of Appeal concerning false advertising on 5G. In this separate case, the Familles Rurales association won its case by demonstrating that Free had exaggerated its promises regarding the coverage and performance of its 5G network. The operator will have to pay 15,000 euros in damages to the association.
These sanctions come in an already tense context for Free, which notably suffered a major leak of its customers’ personal data last October. To regularize its situation, the operator has undertaken to cease these questionable commercial practices and to modify its general conditions of sale. A series of events which tarnishes the image of an operator usually recognized for having disrupted the French telecoms market with its attractive offers.
