With the sports streaming service DAZN, not only the ball rolls, but also the ruble. The provider has recently significantly increased the prices for existing customers. The additional costs for the subscription add up to up to 180 euros per year. This is how customers react correctly.
The streaming provider DAZN increased the subscription prices in August 2022 from 14.99 to 29.99 euros per month. With a one-time payment, the costs rose from 149.99 to 274.99 euros per year, which means that the annual additional costs for the subscription increase to up to 180 euros. The company sent corresponding messages to its subscribers, according to which the new prices should have been paid since August 1, 2022. For customers with a prepaid annual subscription, the fee increase should come into effect after the end of the year, as reported by Stiftung Warentest.
From the point of view of the Federal Association of Consumers (VZBV), the hefty price increase for existing customers is not only annoying and expensive, but also illegal and also inadmissible without the consent of the customer.
Curiously, it has not yet been determined whether DAZN obtained the consent of its customers for the price increase or whether it reserved the right to unilaterally increase the prices with a view to a contractual clause. This is one of the reasons why the VZBV is asking affected customers to describe their case to consumer protection groups.
According to Warentest, the letter about the price increase did not sound as if the company wanted to obtain approval. It said: “In order to be able to continue to offer you the best sport, we will adjust the price of your annual membership”, DAZN may still get and get express approval. However, the company could display or have displayed a corresponding prompt before the streams are displayed. Anyone who clicks or clicked on consent must also pay.
According to the testers, if customers do not agree to the price increase, it should be ineffective. And as long as customers don’t agree, they don’t have to pay the new price. However, they then run the risk that the provider will then terminate them. Until then, the service can continue to be used at the old price. If DAZN made use dependent on agreeing to the new price, that would be illegal.
The streaming service reserves the right to unilateral price increases in its terms of use if, for example, the costs of purchasing broadcasting licenses change. The VZBV considers the underlying terms and conditions clause to be non-transparent and therefore the price increase for existing customers to be illegal. The streaming provider Netflix also had to learn from a court ruling that unilateral price changes for current contracts are only permitted if they follow fair and transparent rules.
With a class action, the VZBV wants to recover the overpaid fees from the provider for those affected. For this he is looking for DAZN customers who are affected by the price increase during an ongoing contract.
