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ConsuWijzer: Supervisory authorities and consumers endorse one another

Throughout the course of 2010, ConsuWijzer received approximately 100,000 queries and complaints from consumers. The website ConsuWijzer.nl, which provides practical advice regarding your consumer rights, received approximately 2.3 million hits, an increase of 15% compared with 2009. The use of specimen letters on the website also increased by 60%; with consumers making use of these on over 510,000 occasions in 2010 alone. The specimen letters help consumers to help themselves, for example when solving a problem with a provider. What is more, ConsuWijzer.nl was voted 'Best Government Website 2010' by the public itself. Pauline Bijlenga, head of ConsuWijzer explains: 'Consumers are increasingly taking action against companies who have a somewhat casual approach with regard to consumer rights. We know this to be true as the number of consumers using our specimen letters is increasing. At the same time, the information that ConsuWijzer receives ensures that supervisory authorities have a clear picture of where things are going wrong in the market'. The Consumer Authority, the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) and the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), amongst others, launched a number of different investigations as a result of this information and have also imposed penalties in this regard.

What did consumers report in 2010?

The top five reports at ConsuWijzer in 2010 were as follows;

  1. Misleading and aggressive sales methods, which accounted for 29% of the reports received, was the biggest problem recorded, and therefore ousted reports regarding guarantees from the number one spot. Three quarters of all reports regarding unfair sales methods concern the aggressive nature of these sales, including pushy telephone sales or door-to-door sales. 
  2. Guarantees and non-conformity (26%): consumers have a number of different questions regarding their right to receive a satisfactory product, including their rights once the warranty period has lapsed.
  3. Invoices and payments (13%): queries and complaints regarding unclear and incorrect invoices.
  4. Termination and dissolution of an agreement (11%): this particularly applies within the field of the media and journalism and within fitness centres and sports clubs. Consumers often only ascertain that their subscription has been tacitly extended once the term of notice has already lapsed. New regulations ensuring that subscriptions can no longer be extended on an automatic basis are set to enter into force from 2012; these regulations have already entered into force in the telecommunications sector. What is more, regulations are not alike for all products and services, which may result in a lack of clarity for consumers and therefore a large number of questions being posed by these consumers. The letter entitled ‘termination of a subscription’ is the specimen letter that is used most frequently out of all specimen letters available on the website.
  5. Compliance with the terms and conditions of an agreement (6%): consumers occasionally experience problems when companies amend their general terms and conditions; one example of such a problem is that they may be expected to pay more for a service or that the content of the service may change.

Reports result in action being taken by supervisory authorities

Examples of action taken as a result of information provided in 2010 include the following:

  • Together with energy providers, the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) has established a procedure which, amongst other things, results in a reduced number of false meter readings on energy invoices and therefore in companies being more flexible regarding solving these problems, thereby preventing consumers from feeling they are being sent from pillar to post. The NMa also received information from ConsuWijzer regarding how energy companies deal with complaints. Together with the outcomes of the annual investigation into the quality of complaints management, this has resulted in a more detailed enforcement investigation into how a number of energy suppliers handle such complaints. The NMa imposed a penalty of 160,000 euros on one party for the incomplete provision of information.
  • In 2010, OPTA launched 48 investigations into companies suspected of non-compliance with the rules relating to the ‘don’t call me’ register. Two companies have since been issued with a penalty by OPTA. 
  • The Consumer Authority issued a penalty of 1,020,000 euros upon an energy supplier for conducting misleading telephone canvassing. The Consumer Authority also fined a photographic studio for misleading canvassing via networking websites. 
  • OPTA has informed customers of their rights if mobile service providers switch to settling accounts per second instead of per minute. This is not forbidden, however service providers are expected to clearly inform their consumers of this fact. OPTA has called upon consumers to report complaints regarding unclear explanations offered by mobile suppliers to ConsuWijzer. OPTA is currently investigating whether the tariff information available on websites belonging to mobile service providers is sufficiently clear for the consumer.  
  • OPTA and the Consumer Authority are taking action against misleading text messaging. In 2010, OPTA and the Consumer Authority both imposed penalties on a text messaging provider, to the sum of 550,000 euros and 1,190,000 euros respectively. New regulations will be implemented in 2011, whereby the consumer will be in a stronger position if he/she submits a complaint to his/her mobile service provider regarding a text messaging service that he/she did not request. This service provider will then be unable to disconnect the consumer’s mobile telephone without warning, but must instead first investigate the complaint made by the consumer.

ConsuWijzer is the government helpdesk offering practical advice regarding your rights as a consumer. You can contact ConsuWijzer by visiting www.consuwijzer.nl or telephoning 088 – 070 70 70 (national rates apply). ConsuWijzer is an initiative of three supervisory authorities that form part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation: The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) and the Consumer Authority.

More information

For more information regarding ConsuWijzer, please contact Saskia Bierling, press spokesperson at ConsuWijzer, tel.: +31 (0)70 330 5971 or +31 (0)6 5252 7011 or e-mail pers [at] consuwijzer [punt] nl.

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