NOS News•today, 2:46 PM
Energy supplier Hollandse Energie Maatschappij (HEM) has been fined more than 1 million euros. According to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), the company is guilty of aggressive commercial practices in telephone sales.
For example, salespeople said they were calling about the current energy contract without making it clear that they were calling on HIM’s behalf. It was also unclear at what rates and under what conditions the new contract was concluded.
When people indicated they weren’t interested, the salespeople kept pushing. Other salespeople said they were calling to stop the unsolicited calls.
HEM charged very high rates, says the ACM. Consumers who switched often lost their relatively favorable contracts as a result. “As a result, some customers still unjustly pay hundreds of euros more per month for gas and electricity,” says ACM board member Manon Leijten. She calls the violations very serious.
The ACM has already warned several times about HEM’s high rates, because prices for permanent contracts were far above the price ceiling. Last year, this ceiling ensured that consumers paid a maximum price for their energy.
The current investigation was initiated because ACM received many complaints about recruitment by HEM.
