After a stream of complaints and action by ACM, the website Cvneed has stopped accepting new customers
Summary
- ACM received hundreds of complaints from consumers that had created a curriculum vitae on the Cvneed website and were suddenly stuck with a subscription.
- The company had not clearly stated beforehand that it concerned a subscription or what the costs of that subscription were.
- After intervention by ACM, the company has stopped accepting new customers in both the Netherlands as well as other EU countries where it is active.
The website Cvneed has stopped accepting new customers. The company has done so after an intervention by the Netherlands Authority of Consumers and Markets (ACM). On Cvneed.com, which is active in several European countries, people can create a curriculum vitae online. ACM received hundreds of complaints about Cvneed. Consumers complained in particular that it was not clear that they, when creating a cv, were stuck with a subscription of 35 euros per month. Fellow European authorities from Sweden, France, Belgium, Austria, and Poland had contacted ACM as well after receiving similar complaints about this Dutch company.
The complaints reveal that people thought they were creating a cv on the website only once, but turned out to be stuck with an automatically renewing paid subscription. After conversations with ACM, Cvneed has decided that it will stop attracting and accepting new customers in the European countries where it is active. The website will remain online, so existing customers can continue to use the website through their accounts.
Edwin van Houten, Director of ACM’s Consumer Department, says: “Through our consumer information portal ACM ConsuWijzer, we regularly receive reports about websites like Cvneed. They offer services for a fee, but are not clear about what these services cost, or that it concerns a subscription. As a result, people are confronted with unexpected fees, sometimes also followed by a direct debit. This isn’t allowed. A company can only charge fees that are appropriate and communicated in advance, so the consumer knows about them and agrees to them. Such important facts may not be hidden or omitted.”
ACM has different instruments at its disposal for dealing with consumer problems. In this case, ACM opted to confront the business, after which the business stopped accepting new customers. By confronting the business, ACM has prevented further harm to consumers, both in the Netherlands as well as abroad. ACM checks if the business honors the agreements, for example through reports filed with ACM’s consumer information portal ACM ConsuWijzer.
What are your rights if you enter a subscription against your will?
If consumers are given incorrect information about the price or features of a product, or if important information is omitted or hidden, consumers can annul the contract. In those cases, there is no payment obligation. Consumers do have to take individual action for this, for example, with the help of a sample letter available on ACM’s consumer information portal ACM ConsuWijzer.