contents
A man calls customer service with a question. This turns him into a subscription. And Salt finds: No right of withdrawal!
The man moved to Switzerland from Germany. He’s looking for a cheap mobile phone subscription for Europe on the Internet. He finds what he is looking for at the Internet provider green.ch for just under CHF 50 per month. The subscription without a minimum contract period is provided by Salt for green.ch.
The man begins to fill out the subscription order. A window pops up saying he has to pay 120 francs in advance. Not saying what this deposit is for and whether the money will be credited later, he calls Salt’s customer service. He explains that this deposit is necessary because he is not Swiss, but that it will be deducted from the subscription costs.
Salt sells him a supposedly better subscription
The customer service employee also tells him that he can take out a green.ch subscription for five francs less directly from Salt, with a minimum term of 24 months. This seems like a good offer to the man, and he agrees. When he receives the contract, however, he finds that the low price is limited to 24 months and then doubles. He immediately calls Salt to cancel the contract. For telephone contracts, the law grants a right of withdrawal of 14 days.
However, Salt takes the position that the man called customer service himself. However, the right of withdrawal only applies if a provider calls someone unsolicited to sell him a subscription.
The customer turns on the Ombudscom, the arbitration board of the telecommunications industry. Salt then agrees to refund part of the money. But the man had to pay 60 francs for the connection fees.
After carefully analyzing the conversation, we conclude that the customer did not call for an offer.
Salt admits mistakes in the right of withdrawal
At this point, the SRF consumer magazine “Espresso” intervenes. Because the man didn’t call customer service to conclude a contract during this conversation, but because he had a question about the green.ch offer.
Salt writes in its statement that the man was well informed by customer service on the phone about the terms of the contract: “After carefully analyzing the conversation, we also come to the conclusion that the customer did not call about an offer, but about a specific question about the green -Abo, and he is therefore legally entitled to the right of withdrawal with regard to the Salt subscription offered to him.» Salt will refund the full amount and apologize to the customer.
Salt is also self-critical: “It has been shown that the specific reason for the call should have been checked earlier and not assumed that an incoming call was a request for a quote.”
We regret this mistake and will use this case for training to avoid similar situations in the future. For this customer, however, this step comes too late. After his experience with Salt, he took out a mobile phone subscription from another provider at the same price as green.ch, with no minimum term and no time-limited discount.