Poor reachability of online businesses leads to increase in consumer problems

Making purchases over the Internet, on social media or over the phone has become increasingly popular. However, online shopping not only offers more convenience, it also causes more consumer problems. In 2017, ConsuWijzer, the consumer information portal operated by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), saw an increase in the number of questions and reports about unfair commercial practices with regard to these sales channels, including:

Misleading sales activities using ‘free’ samples;
Sending or providing unsolicited products, services, and subscriptions;
Failing to deliver purchased items, even though consumers had paid for them.

Consumers complain that companies send invoices for products or services they did not ask for or that had seemed to be offered for free. Unsolicited subscriptions often concern subscriptions to holiday homes, travel deals, special offers, and promotional competitions.

In most cases, it is quite difficult to cancel these subscriptions. These kinds of companies are difficult to reach or cannot be reached at all, and often rely on aggressive collection practices putting consumers under tremendous pressure to pay. Most people are insufficiently aware of their rights, as a result of which they just pay in order to be done with it. Furthermore, these types of companies increasingly operate from abroad. That makes it even harder to exercise your rights.

That is why ConsuWijzer advises consumers to be alert when making purchases over the Internet, on social media or over the phone. Last fall, ACM ran a nationwide awareness campaign titled: ‘Don’t just order something on social media. Find out first who they really are’ (in Dutch: ‘Bestel niet zomaar iets via social media. Check eerst wie er achter zit’). ConsuWijzer created an Online Shop Check, specifically for this campaign. According to this Check, consumers should find out a couple of things first before paying or sharing their information with the company, for example whether or not the company can be reached and whether or not there are any complaints. The campaign has reached millions of consumers. This year, too, ACM will keep a close watch on unfair commercial practices over the Internet or the phone.

Additional risks when making purchases over the Internet or on social media

The increase in this kind of unfair commercial practices is caused by the growing popularity of buying over the Internet and on social media, as well as by the nature of these kinds of sales channels. The Internet and social media appear to be attractive sales channels for fraudulent businesses, probably because they think they are able to operate anonymously on them, and because they think they are able to contact vulnerable consumers directly.

Consumer reports help ACM identify what companies violate the rules, enabling ACM to take action against them, for example by holding those companies accountable for their conduct, or by issuing a warning or imposing a fine.

Results

In 2017, ACM took action (and successfully so) against companies that were guilty of the behavior described earlier, and deployed educational instruments to empower consumers. Several examples of the results are:

ACM called on consumers not to pay several online businesses that had sent unsolicited products, and not to buy from several online stores that had failed to deliver the purchases made by their customers.
ACM warned consumers not to pay for unlawful subscriptions sold to them via telemarketing.
ACM reminded various sectors of misleading pricing strategies. This has resulted in clearer prices of product and services such as cars, travel deals, holiday homes, and tickets for festivals, concerts and theatres. ACM pointed out to consumers their rights in case of telemarketing, and reprimanded businesses that had failed to comply with the rules concerning the Do-not-call-me register.
ACM drew up guidelines for the publication of online customer reviews, and informed consumers about the reliability of such reviews.

Most popular tools on consuwijzer.nl

Sample letters are the tools used the most on consuwijzer.nl. With these tools, consumers are able to exercise their rights when confronting a business. Last year, the sample letters (approximately 100 of those are available) were viewed by over 425,000 individuals. Another popular tool was the Online Shop Check, which is a checklist that offers tips on how to see whether or not an online store is trustworthy. In addition, the tool to check the veracity of debt collector letters and collection costs was also used a lot, as was the Roaming Calculation tool, which is a tool to calculate how much mobile data you can use in other EU countries at no roaming costs.

Other facts and figures

Consuwijzer.nl, ACM’s information website, attracted over 3 million visitors last year (9% more than in 2016). The consumer desk received 57,000 questions and reports over the phone and by mail (just as much as in 2016). This is an important source of information for ACM’s oversight efforts.

File your complaint with Consuwijzer (in Dutch)