The National Consumer Protection Authority (NFH), the Competition Office (GVH) and the police have all launched investigations over the decision by online services website PPO.hu to charge customers a Ft 2,490 (€9.30) annual fee without notifying customers in advance, index.hu reports.
According to consumer complaints, PPO, which was used primarily for topping up mobile phone balances and purchasing motorway passes, charged customers on January 11th without warning, after previously being free of service charges. According to the portal, PPO did not email their customers of the proposed changes, only making it available as an internal message to those who logged in, meaning onetime customers would not have been notified.
So far it appears only those who registered their bank or credit cards with the website from November 2008 onward were charged. As various commenters at consumer blog Tékozló Homár (which has multiple posts dedicated to this topic) have noted, the biggest victims may not even be those who were charged Ft 2,490, but other online vendors who will consequently see a drop in traffic and trust following this collapse in consumer confidence in online shopping.