(Finance) – The appeals brought by Unieuro and, by its subsidiary Monclick, are founded only in relation to the quantum of the sanction. This is what the Lazio Regional Administrative Court decided by reducing the fines for the two companies by 20 percent, accused at the end of 2021 by the Antitrust for some unfair business conduct – especially in the period of health emergency for the Covid-19 – in the context of their e-commerce activities.
There first commercial practice sanctioned consists “in the dissemination of misleading information on the characteristics of products sold online and delivery times as well as in the adoption of incorrect methods of the online sales process”. There second “in the delayed/non-delivery of products sold online, in the omitted or inadequate provision of the after-sales assistance service and in the obstacle to the exercise of the consumer’s rights of withdrawal and reimbursement”. Conducts, according to the Authority, carried out since autumn 2019, reaching the peak of offensiveness in the pandemic period. Unieuro was sanctioned with 4 million euroswith an additional 320 thousand euros for non-compliance with the provisions; Monclick with 300 thousand euros, with 40 thousand more for non-compliance with the prescriptions.
On the front Unieuro the TAR found that “the evidence collected during the inspection demonstrates unequivocally how the company was well aware of the difficulties in verifying availability and the inconvenience caused to consumers due to the misalignment of the warehouse management systems” and this “is translated into the obvious risk of advertising on the website the availability of a product not physically present in the warehouse and therefore available for sale”. With reference to Monclick the Tar highlights “how the situation appears even more serious, given that in the general conditions of sale it was expressly provided that the company ‘does not guarantee the certainty of assignment of the goods ordered'”.
As for the delivery time – notes the TAR – “it appears clear that there has been a considerable number (although apparently contained in percentage terms spread over the entire year) of deliveries made beyond the contractually established deadlines, but above all there is a clear lack of prior information which could make it clear to the consumer from the pre-contractual phase what the timing was”.
On the subject of after-sales assistance– according to the Tar – the suspension of the call center service by Unieuro during the most acute phase of the pandemic, replaced by an automatic responder which only in a laughable percentage of cases solved the problems submitted by users, is “peaceable”. decision does not appear in line with the increase in requests”.
The conclusion of the judges is however that the sanction imposed is disproportionate to the alleged conduct with the effect that both fines were reduced by 20% with respect to the amount established by the Agcm. Basically, the fine for Unieuro (including that for non-compliance) was set at 3,520,000 euros, and the fine for Monclick (including that for non-compliance) was set at 280 thousand euro.