Meo, Nos and Nowo ordered to pay customers back €40 million

The Portuguese consumer watchdog Deco has won a legal action against telecommunications companies MEO, NOS and Nowo that could lead to the payback of €40 million to customers over price hikes between 2016 and 2017.

The court decision is not final since operators can appeal to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

According to the news agency Lusa, Deco’s strategic and institutional relations assessor, Paulo Fonseca, the court dismissed letters sent out by the operators on the price increases at that time because they had not correctly informed customers about the price hikes and didn’t give them the right to terminate contracts without penalties.

“The (court) decision simply enforced what we have argued: it forces operators to give back the difference unduly charged for a period of eight to 10 months”, he explained.

The legal action brought by Deco against MEO (Altice), NOS and Nowo (today called Digi) arose after complaints from consumers who did not know now the exact amounts they were being charged and had no idea that they could (legally) cancel their contracts without being charged.

Vodafone was not included since, according to Deco, “there were no records of private consumer increases for the period.”

According to Deco, between August and September 2016, customers began receiving letters about price increases that were well above inflation – almost 1000% above the amount registered at the time.