Two telemarketing companies in the form of SalesGroup A/S (now in bankruptcy) and Salescorp Denmark ApS have been convicted in the Copenhagen City Court of violating the ban on unsolicited telephone sales and misleading sales of the electricity company Velkommen's products.
The two companies have been sentenced to pay fines of one million DKK and 150,000 DKK respectively for violating several sections of the Marketing Act and the Consumer Contracts Act. A total of 286 violations of the Marketing Act and the Consumer Contracts Act were charged in the case. This is stated by the Consumer Ombudsman, who was behind the notification of the companies, in a press release.
- A great many consumers have been grossly misled in connection with the telephone calls in this case. In addition, these are calls that the companies were not allowed to make at all because they did not have the consumers' consent, says Consumer Ombudsman Torben Jensen.
SalesGroup A/S, which is now undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, received the largest fine for having made unsolicited calls to 88 consumers and misleading 62 consumers during telephone conversations. The misleading was done by, among other things, the company presenting itself as Dansk Strøm Analyse or otherwise giving the consumer the impression that it was an impartial or public analysis company.
Salescorp Denmark ApS, which also called consumers on behalf of Velkommen to sell Velkommen's products, was convicted of unsolicited calls to 27 consumers and misleading 15 consumers during telephone conversations. Among other things, the company misled consumers by providing false information that the consumer could save money by switching to Velkommen.
Velkommen and other partners acquitted
The case was brought after the Consumer Ombudsman in September 2019 and June 2020 reported Velkommen and its partners SalesGroup A/S, Salescorp Denmark ApS, Bravour.nu ApS and Mondayy Ltd to the police for illegal telemarketing based on a number of complaints from consumers.
The lead company Bravour.nu ApS was acquitted of having participated in the illegal calls. The case against Mondayy Ltd has not been part of the criminal case because the company was forcibly dissolved in 2021.
Velkommen itself was acquitted of illegal telemarketing that the telemarketing companies carried out on behalf of the electricity company. However, the court fined Velkommen 5,000 DKK for misleading statements on Trustpilot about the Consumer Ombudsman's handling of the case.
- We would of course have liked to see a conviction in accordance with the charges brought, and in light of the acquittals, we will now read the verdict closely and then decide on a possible appeal, says Torben Jensen.
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