The Consumer Ombudsman will focus on the areas of highest financial importance for the consumers. In 2015 we will therefore prioritize working with marketing and contractual terms within financial services, housing and real estate services, ICT, and distance selling.
– Consumers are faced with ever greater and more complicated choices when purchasing products and services or signing contracts in these markets. Poor decisions can lead to great financial consequences for individual consumers. It is therefore important for the Consumer Ombudsman to be at the forefront with regards to emerging trends and challenges, says Consumer Ombudsman Gry Nergård.
False user reviews
More and more consumers actively make use of online user reviews to get advice on, recommend, or warn other consumers about products, services and businesses. But such reviews can be in breach of the law if they are in reality are paid or hidden advertisements, or are presented in a misleading manner.
One of our new areas of focus for 2015 will therefore be supervision of the manner in which online user reviews are used by traders, and including whether they are purchased, rewarded, redacted or false.
– We will actively pursue new misleading marketing practices. As a consumer, you have a right to know when you are in reality exposed to advertising, says Nergård.
Forced bundling (tying)
The Consumer Ombudsman has on several occasions highlighted the issue of forced bundling, where the consumer’s choice is limited to certain packages of products and services, rather than being able to select the offers that are best suited to his or her needs.
In 2014 the Consumer Ombudsman viewed forced bundling of TV and Internet access by cable providers as in breach of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act.
Negotiations with the cable providers are ongoing in 2015. Furthermore, The Consumer Ombudsman will follow the development of the Smart Home and the Internet of Things (IoT) closely, and seek to prevent the establishment of forced bundling and other contractual lock-in mechanisms in these new markets.
Renewed focus on subscription traps
Many businesses claim to give away various kinds of free samples through telemarketing or online marketing. The problems arise when consumers receive products and are billed for them beyond the sample package or trial membership, only then realising they have involuntarily entered a subscription.
In 2015 the Consumer Ombudsman will work actively to prevent subscription traps.
– Last year we received a record high of 2500 complaints about telemarketing. This goes to show how important it is that we stop illegal telemarketing and subscription traps to prevent consumers from running into problems, says Nergård.
Pushing of expensive add-on services
Many Norwegian consumers have experienced that stores are aggressively pushing credit payment, insurance products or perhaps electricity contracts when they’re buying consumer goods. In the purchasing situation consumers often don’t have a sufficient ability to understand the complicated agreement, and can easily spend money on something that they neither want nor need.
In 2015 the Consumer Ombudsman will, amongst other measures, perform on-site supervision in stores offering credit, insurance products or other commodities as add-on services.
– Debt due to loans and credit can have considerable consequences for the consumer. It is therefore particularly important that marketing of such products is not misleading or aggressive, says Consumer Ombudsman Gry Nergård.
Press contact at the Consumer Ombudsman:
Gry Nergård, Consumer Ombudsman (Tel: +47 99 00 50 80)