Melita must pay €10,000 fine for ignoring contract termination requests

Updated 6.45pm with Melita statement

Melita must pay a €10,000 fine after it ignored customers' requests to terminate their phone and internet service contracts, an administrative review tribunal confirmed today.

The tribunal was confirming a decision previously reached by the Malta Communications Authority, which found that Melita plc had failed to respect customers' requests to end their contracts and at times persisted in issuing bills.

The MCA had issued a warning letter to Melita in November 2014, warning it that it had to respect legal procedures as laid down in the termination and disconnection agreement.

Since the service provider ignored this warning, the MCA imposed a €10,000 penalty on December 5, 2014.

The company had filed an appeal against this decision, arguing that it had not violated any law and that the MCA was not empowered to impose fines.

Moreover, it alleged that its delay in complying with customers' complaints was due to a change in its IT system.

The tribunal, however, remarked that Melita customers had been denied the right to terminate their subscriptions "at any moment and in a simple manner" as envisaged in the termination and disconnection agreement...