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Do large firms ‘abuse power’ in Hungary?
The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has submitted a draft resolution requiring the government to force large firms that the party says “abuse their power” to treat customers fairly, a board member of the party said in a post on social media on Saturday.
Large firms abusing power?
Addressing an online press conference, Sándor Rónai said DK’s parliamentary group has submitted a draft resolution aimed at “putting an end to the inhumane practices that characterise the customer management of state and private service providers today”. “It is time to put a stop to the arbitrary abuses of service providers,” he added.
According to the proposal, every service provider — including banks, insurance firms, telecommunication companies and public offices — would need to offer personal customer assistance at least three days a week, to ensure that customers can reach an administrator by phone within five minutes, and companies would have to respond meaningfully to online inquiries within 24 hours.
Unilateral contract amendments and the use of fine print to enforce “incomprehensible contracts” would be prohibited. If a service is interrupted or a service provider makes a mistake, then it would not be the customer who has to prove that they are right, but the service provider, according to the proposal.
Rónai said that “by submitting our proposal, we make it clear that we will no longer tolerate holders of power in Hungary serving service providers rather than the people”. Today, “no one punishes unreachable companies”, he added.
“We are leftists who represent the people against profit-oriented companies,” he said. “Our goal is a fair, predictable and transparent service system, where the service provider does not dictate, but the consumer can also assert their rights.”
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