Danish parking app's 'fee-free' marketing deemed misleading

Apcoa Danmark A/S, a parking services company, has faced criticism from the Danish Consumer Ombudsman for misleading advertising practices concerning its mobile application, Apcoa Flow. The company marketed the app as being "fee-free," a claim that the consumer watchdog found to be inaccurate.

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Apcoa cannot, by its nature, market itself with a fee-free app when consumers have to pay an operational fee each time they use it.

According to the Consumer Ombudsman, users were required to pay an operational fee every time they utilized the Apcoa Flow app to pay for parking. This practice was deemed a violation of the marketing practices act, as the company failed to clearly disclose this mandatory charge upfront. "Apcoa cannot, by its nature, market itself with a fee-free app when consumers have to pay an operational fee each time they use it," stated Consumer Ombudsman Torben Jensen.

The app's descriptions in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store initially omitted clear information about the operational fee. While a headline in the Apple App Store proclaimed "Avoid hidden fees," details about the charge only appeared under a "more" section. The Consumer Ombudsman emphasized that this information should have been presented "clearly and conspicuously" regardless of the platform used for marketing.

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This should be clear to consumers before they decide to download the app.

Following a series of consumer complaints, the Consumer Ombudsman issued a warning to Apcoa regarding deceptive marketing. The company has since revised the descriptions of the Apcoa Flow app in the relevant app stores to reflect the presence of the operational fee, thereby complying with the ombudsman's directive.

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It is Apcoa's responsibility that the information appears clearly and conspicuously, regardless of which platform Apcoa chooses to use for its marketing.