Recommendation 11 of the 2018 Annual Report

Recommendation 11 : “The supplier Happ-e should clarify the conditions for obtaining the sponsorship premium on its web site”

0- Follow-up to the recommendation

  • Q1 2019: “sponsorship” web page should use the term “release” instead of “generate”.
  • Q4 2019: sponsorship process.

1- Observation

The claimant asked the supplier Happe to pay a premium in respect of a sponsorship campaign. He stated that he had carried out all the operations specified on the web site of supplier Happe, and that despite that fact he had not been paid the sponsorship premium.

2- Mediation solution

The mediation service notes that all the information about activating the sponsorship premium was provided on the web site of supplier Happ-e: https://www.happ-e.fr/parrainage. An e-mail confirming release of the premium was sent to the claimant on 24/02/18 but it was only activated from 19/04/18. The claimant changed energy provider, which interrupted payment of the premium, in accordance with the indications on the Happ-e web site.
However, the Mediation service noted that the information in the e-mail dated 24/02/18 about activation of the premium was not clear enough. The Mediation service noted that the term “generate your premium” in the e-mail is unclear and does not imply that the premium must be activated before it can be paid into the bank account. That is why we suggested that Happ-e should use the term “release” instead of “generate” your premium.
Furthermore, according to the Mediation service, the following wording in the conditions in your customer area “the reward is paid directly into the sponsor’s bank account”, without any mention of the e-mail sent for activation of the sponsorship premium, is likely to mislead the claimant.
Accordingly, on the basis of all these elements, the mediation service suggested that Happ-e pay the claimant half the sponsorship premium by way of compensation. This sum takes into account firstly the fact that Happ-e’s e-mail was indeed received, as the reward was activated on 19/04/18, and secondly the fact that the need to activate the premium was mentioned on the supplier’s web site, so he claimant could have found out about it, even in the customer area via the “our dedicated page” link.

3- Generic observation

With regard to the sponsorship campaign, the ENGIE Group’s Mediation service notes that the information given in the e-mail activating the premium is unclear. The term “generate” a premium in the e-mail is unclear and does not imply that the premium must be activated before it can be paid into the bank account.

4- Recommendation / Generic solution

The ENGIE Group’s Mediation service suggest to supplier Happ-e the option of choosing the term “release your premium” instead of “generate your premium” in the information concerning activation of the sponsorship premium in the activation e-mail and on the web site of supplier Happ-e (https://www.happ-e.fr/parrainage).