VodafoneZiggo will no longer make unsolicited calls to acquire customers. The telecom provider promises this to the regulator ACM now that an investigation has been started due to the many complaints. You can now only be called by the company if you have given permission for this.
If a company wants to call you for customer acquisition, you must have given permission for this in advance. The company must also be able to demonstrate this, writes the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM).
The regulator has been receiving many complaints from consumers who are being called unsolicited for some time. That is why telemarketing companies are being monitored more closely, the ACM reported earlier this year.
The regulator had also received “many complaints” about VodafoneZiggo. That is why the ACM opened an investigation into the company’s working methods. The provider acknowledges “the responsibility for telephone recruitment” and will better comply with the rules, the ACM reports on Thursday.
The group will only call people if they have given permission for this. This also applies to companies that call for or on behalf of VodafoneZiggo, says the regulator. VodafoneZiggo calls it “unacceptable” if customers are approached inappropriately on behalf of the company.
‘This is how unwanted sales calls are stopped’
According to ACM board member Martijn Ridderbos, the provider is taking an important step with this. “VodafoneZiggo acknowledges that it is responsible for all telephone recruitment that takes place by and on behalf of the company. And the company will more strictly check whether telephone recruitment is carried out according to the rules. People will only be called with a commercial offer in the future if they have agreed to this.”
The regulator hopes that all companies that recruit customers by telephone will also take such steps. Ridderbos: “This is how unwanted sales calls are stopped and a level playing field is created between companies.”
The outgoing cabinet wants to curb telemarketing, as was apparent last month. Currently, companies are still allowed to call you if you have been a customer before. But from July next year, this will no longer be allowed, then minister Dirk Beljaarts of Economic Affairs decided. In addition, Beljaarts came up with stricter rules for door-to-door sales.