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.