Telekom, Vodafone and o2: That s how lousy customers are cheated in the mobile phone shop

Things aren't going smoothly in mobile phone shops operated by Vodafone, o2 and Telekom: Customers are given insufficient information, necessary documents are not handed over, or handed over only reluctantly. An absurdity for the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center, which accuses the providers of "inadequate consumer protection".

It doesn't always have to be extreme cases of foisted contracts that mobile phone providers cause their customers trouble with. Even in everyday business, consumers are often cheated when concluding a contract. The North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center criticizes this and reveals that the majority of mobile phone shops from Telekom, Vodafone and o2 do not even comply with the minimum legal standards.

Consumer advocates criticize Telekom, Vodafone and o2

The sheer number of shops in which action is taken to the detriment of customers is frightening: only in six of the 198 partner shops of the three major providers was the essential information of the contract summarized and given to the customer (source: Verbraucherzentrale NRW). This has actually been mandatory since the new version of the Telecommunications Act (TKG) from December 2021.

The consumer advocates determined this by means of spot checks carried out in NRW in January 2022. In 12 stores , they refused to put the offer in writing – even when asked directly. In such a case, all alarm bells should ring for customers.

In spite of the change in the law, consumers should still be afraid of foisted contracts, which have recently been noticed in some Vodafone shops in particular. An important step for consumer protection would be to reduce the initial term of contracts to six months . But even one-year contracts did not make it into the TKG amendment. The providers criticize that customers would then have to expect higher prices.

Consumer protection also wants the right of withdrawal in the store

In addition, consumers in the store often lack the time to examine offers and contracts in detail. Because up until now, when concluding a contract in a shop, there are no long cancellation periods such as there are with online shopping. "In order to better protect people from unwanted contracts, we need a right of withdrawal for long-term contracts that are concluded in retail stores," demands Wolfgang Schuldzinski, head of the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Regardless of the term, you should regularly terminate your contract:

According to the law, the summary of the contract components must be handed over at the time the contract is concluded. According to the consumer advice center, this should happen beforehand in the interest of the customer. Because this is not the case, Telekom, Vodafone and o2 have been asked to comply with the information obligation.