In this case, two Internet tariffs had been advertised, among other things, with a telephony flat rate to a landline as part of the contract. In fact, there were exceptions for numbers with area codes that were not clearly visible.
However, the 100-page exception list with chargeable area code phone numbers – for dialing in for conference call services, for example – could only be reached in eight steps. As a result, the Board did not consider it to be guaranteed that it would be noticed by the average consumer at all.
Another reason why the court granted the claim for the omission of misleading advertising: it is to be assumed that there are certain service numbers such as 0180, 0137 or 0900, which also cause additional costs for a flat rate. However, this is different for geographical landline numbers, i.e. numbers with normal area codes: consumers would not expect any paid services here.
