Clients rebel against the insurance company Indexia. In recent weeks, 134 consumers have taken legal action against the questionable practices of the insurer Indexia. One of them, who preferred to remain anonymous, obtained a first favorable sentence from the Paris Court of Justice last July. In the provisional order consulted by BFM Business, the courts forced two companies of the Indexia group, Sfam and Foriou, to communicate the contracts in question. A victory for her lawyer, teacher Emma Leoty, who now believes she is proving the scam.
Like thousands of customers, he signed a contract with the former Société française d’assurance multirisque (Sfam) when he bought a mobile phone in 2011 from Mobistore, an Orange brand franchise. This theft insurance costs 16.99 euros per month. Except that in five years, Sfam improperly charged him 6,466 euros in 200 transactions, six times more than what was foreseen in the contract. But even worse, the client was also debited 2,126 euros by Foriou, another company in the Indexia group, without ever having signed a contract with it.
The company appealed this decision, but had reimbursed these customers just before the interim measures last summer. Contacted, his lawyer did not answer us.
Collective complaint of 134 consumers
The consumer lawyer will plead again in April for a collective procedure involving a total of 134 consumers, who have been defrauded of an average of 4,000 euros each in five years. Everyone has taken out insurance with Sfam when buying electronic products and mobile phones, especially at Fnac-Darty but also at Orange and SFR distributors. Since then, all these brands have terminated their contracts with the group created by Sadri Fegaier. But the wave of consumers is rising. The Facebook group “Arnaque Sfam” has 2600 members and is growing every day.
Before being outbid by its own clients, Indexia was first targeted by fraud crackdowns (DGCCRF). The Ministry of the Economy investigated and proved, in March 2019, “deceptive commercial practices”, according to an order from the Paris Court of Appeal that we consulted. To avoid criminal prosecution, Indexia compromised with the courts by agreeing to pay a fine of 10 million euros.
New procedure in progress?
At the end of 2019, the administration received new complaints from consumers. In nine months, 759 complaints have been filed with the departmental directorate for the protection of populations in the Drôme, where Indexia is based. Again due to similar practices, undue withholdings and request for contract termination not taken into account, which continued.
Therefore, the DGCCRF opened a second investigation at the beginning of 2020. And in September of the same year, judicial seizures took place at the company’s premises in Paris and at its Roman sur Isère stronghold. The investigation concluded that Indexia’s commercial policy had “the objective of indicating to the client that makes a termination request, that it is taken into account when it is not, in order to maintain direct debits in bank accounts. It is rumored in the court that a new criminal process is taking place against Indexia and its boss Sadri Fegaier. And that Fnac Darty could be at the origin.
Source: BFM TV
