Consumer Authority launches consumer campaign about sales tricks

Each year many consumers, including a relatively large number of children, young people and the elderly, fall victim to sales tricks. Consumers are duped into buying products or signing contracts that they would perhaps not have bought or signed had they been given correct and complete information. That is why the Consumer Authority is to launch a consumer information campaign about the sales methods used to win them over. Under the motto 'Laat je niet beetnemen' (Don't be duped), the ConsuWijzer website now has information on how to recognise a sales trick, what you can do to cancel a purchase you now regret making, and how you prevent other consumers from being duped?

The main aspects of sales tricks are:

• the seller tries to pressurise the consumer psychologically to make a fast decision
• the information that the seller gives is misleading: it is presented as much nicer than it really is
• important information about the product or the service is missing. If the consumer had had this information, he/she would have made a different decision.

The Consumer Authority is organising this campaign as part of Fraud Prevention Month, an initiative of the international network of consumer enforcement authorities ICPEN to draw consumers' attention around the world to misleading practices. Marije Hulshof of the Consumer Authority says: "Campaigns are going on in many different countries at the moment. Consumers must know their rights and have a keen eye for of all kinds of misleading activities or fraud. The consumer of today is an alert, critical consumer, everywhere in the world."

In order to stop misleading sales tricks, the Consumer Authority is calling on consumers to report their experiences via ConsuWijzer. Marije Hulshof, director of the Consumer Authority, adds: "Consumers have their own responsibility. They must be critical and obtain redress. Consumer reports are for us important signals of abuses against which we, as the enforcement authority, are able to act."

With the introduction of the new rules on unfair commercial practices, which are expected to enter into force halfway through the year, the Consumer Authority will have extra tools at its disposal to take action against unfair and aggressive sales practices.