Free fined 2.2 million euros for “deceptive commercial practice”

This is the second sanction in four days. After being ordered to pay 15,000 euros to the Familles Rurales association for misleading advertising on a 5G mobile plan offer, the operator Free (founded by Xavier Niel, individual shareholder of the Le Monde Group) will once again have to put your hand in your wallet. And this time, it concerns 2.2 million euros claimed by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).

On its website, the administration, which reports to the Ministry of the Economy, criticizes the operator for having “processed, as part of internal controls, cancellations of mobile phone orders made by its customers”, without making a refund “within a reasonable time”.

Fraud enforcement remains vague about this duration. But according to the law (article L216-7 of the Consumer Code), if the contract is canceled, the professional must reimburse the consumer for all sums paid, at the latest within fourteen days following the date on which the contract was denounced.

Accounting mix

The investigation was carried out by the services of the Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations of Paris, then transmitted by the Public Prosecutor's Office to the Paris judicial court. It was the Paris public prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, who set the amount of the fine.

Contacted by The WorldFree did not wish to comment on the subject. The DGCCRF, for its part, specifies that the telecoms operator has already “accepted” to pay the fine. The company has also undertaken to cease the commercial practices in question, which occurred between August 17, 2020 and January 4, 2022. Free has also agreed to remove from its general conditions the possibility of operating “compensation” between the amounts paid by customers for ordering a mobile phone and the amounts owed to the operator. In other words, there is no longer any question for Free of carrying out a happy accounting mix-up, by withholding money on one side under the pretext that it is expected on the other.