Test-Achats launches class-action suit against Proximus

Belgium’s consumer organisation Test-Achats has begun a class-action lawsuit against telecommunications company Proximus over its policy of renting new digital TV decoders to owners of older models. The suit calls for the clients concerned to be allowed one year’s rental for free.

Test-Achats brought its complaint to Proximus last June. More than 400,000 digital TV customers – out of 1.8 million – were in possession of a V3 decoder, which will become useless next year.

According to Proximus, only one in 10 of those customers had actually bought the decoder (pictured). The customers affected were offered one year’s free rental of the new generation decoder.

Three months later, however, Test-Achats described the offer as an empty promise. Proximus was asking customers to sign up in June, although their existing V3 decoder was still operative until the end of January 2017. Proximus was counting those six months as part of the free rental, while no switch-over was even necessary.

Test-Achats called for the free rental to begin on 1 February but said that Proximus refused any attempt to reach a solution. The suit alleges breach of contract among other legal infractions.

Photo courtesy Proximus