Free sentenced by Justice
The Supreme Court has sentenced in mid-November the ISP Free, a subsidiary of Iliad, to pay 2,500 euros to one of his subscribers who had complained in 2004 unable to receive television has yet endorsed a bid Triple Play (offers TV / Telephone / Internet) in the latter.
The customer had initially attacked Free before a judge near Orleans, demanding repayment of sums paid as damages. The verdict delivered on 1 July 2008 had gone in the direction of the operator who spoke of the technical problems he had informed his client at the outset of his subscription.The judge had chosen and the "obligation of means" and not "result" to make its ruling.
"The obligation of result" reached by the Court of Cassation
The Court of Cassation found instead that Free was indeed subject to an obligation of result vis-?-vis his client to provide the service for which he had paid, and only one case of "force majeure" would could relieve the operator and justify the breach of his contractual obligation that the technical incidents are not mentioned.
Such a ruling could set a precedent.That case, in addition to its symbolic of the victory of a "simple" client on a company such as Free, has serious consequences for the entire sector, as it will force all providers to verify that TV services are actually available before offering them to their future customers, under penalty of prosecution.
Without recourse, the operator has been convicted yet declined comment.