The European Consumer Centre Slovenia (ECC Slovenia), which operates as part of the Slovene Consumers' Association, was in the previous month contacted by several consumers who had unwittingly become members of Dimoco, a pay-for SMS club. They had not been aware of the club membership until they received their monthly mobile phone bills, which were considerably higher than in the months prior to that.
ECC Slovenia has already contacted the European Consumer Centre Austria, where the company Dimoco's registered office is located, as we believe this is a matter of unfair commercial practice. Information on what to do in the event of dealings with the company in question is available on the website of ECC Slovenia www.epc.si. Mobile operators are required to protect their subscribers and the Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia is expected to take measures in accordance with its power.
There were a number of instances of consumers taking online IQ tests, which were explicitly advertised as free-of-charge or consumers having the possibility of winning awards. However, such IQ tests or the recently very popular ''type in your friends' numbers and locate them' are only seemingly free-of-charge. The fine print at the bottom part of the website, which is shown even before consumers start the test, does state the price of the service, how to unsubscribe and other terms and conditions, however the information is provided in such an ambiguous way that the consumers are unable to understand that they are thereby actually becoming members of the said SMS club. After answering the last IQ test question, a visually accentuated window appears on the screen, where a mobile number needs to be typed in so consumers can receive the test results. At the same time the background gets darkened, which makes the text about the general terms and conditions of the SMS club, which is rather difficult to see as it is, practically impossible to be noticed. After typing in the mobile number, the consumer receives a text message with a code and non-transparent information about the SMS club membership.
It needs to be pointed out that the messages sent to consumers by the provider, i.e. incoming messages, are charged for (2.49EUR/text message) just as well, and not only the outgoing messages, as is mistakenly believed by most of the consumers.
Considering the manner in which the IQ test service and similar contents are marketed and the aforementioned reasons, this is in our opinion a matter of unfair commercial practice.
Should consumers receive text messages which they do not understand they are advised not to reply to them. If they have however already become members of the SMS club but they do not wish to receive the payable text messages, they should immediately cancel the service in the way stated in the general terms and conditions of the service provider. For further information with regard to termination of services they are advised to contact their mobile providers. They can also request the mobile provider to (further) terminate (block) the service on their mobile numbers. ECC Slovenia also advises consumers to take care of their mobile numbers just as carefully as their bank cards; mobile phones are namely means of payment as well. Further information is available at our website www.epc.si.
In view of protecting the rights of mobile telephony subscribers, the European Consumer Centre Slovenia is calling on mobile operators to appeal to the company Dimoco to stop the unfair commercial practice; should this not happen, mobile operators are expected to terminate their contracts with the company. The Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia is expected to take measures in accordance with its power.
Further information: Blaž Možina, legal consultant (contakt: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +386 (0)1 474 06 14).
