The electricity company Grøn Elforsyning accepts and pays a fine of DKK 700,000 for illegal telemarketing and misleading consumers. The Consumer Ombudsman writes this in a press release. The Consumer Ombudsman reported the company to the police in October 2024 for having called 27 consumers without the consumers having given valid consent to do so.
According to the Consumer Contracts Act, a consumer must consent to being called before a company can contact the person with a view to making a sale.
- For several years, the Consumer Ombudsman has had a sharp focus on unsolicited calls from companies that are misleading, and we take this very seriously, says Consumer Ombudsman Torben Jensen in the press release.
If a consumer has not given his consent before the person is contacted, any agreement is invalid, and the consumer is not bound by it, says Torben Jensen. According to the Consumer Ombudsman, 17 of the 27 consumers were also misled during the conversations with Grøn Elforsyning.
Here, the telemarketers provided incorrect information by, among other things, promising savings without knowing the consumer's current electricity contract, it says. Some consumers also experienced that the telemarketers said that they were from "Grøn Energi" or "Grøn El" instead of Grøn Elforsyning.
The Consumer Ombudsman emphasizes that consumers have a 14-day right of withdrawal when making a telephone sale. By contacting the electricity company in writing, the consumer can cancel an agreement.
Grøn Elforsyning is not unknown to the authorities. According to the Consumer Council Think, the company has previously received several reprimands from the Danish Electricity Authority in cases involving reporting incorrect information to the website elpris.dk. The business organization Green Power Denmark has previously warned Danish electricity customers against what the organization calls "unscrupulous electricity companies".
This involved companies that called consumers without consent and then transferred the person to their own company without the consumer being aware of it.
jel /ritzau/
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