Regulator orders résumé website to stop taking new clients over hidden fees

After receiving hundreds of complaints, the website Cvneed, where people can create an online résumé, has stopped taking on new customers. That was announced by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), which intervened directly with the Dutch company.

People believed they were creating a one-time online résumé through the site, but instead found themselves tied to an ongoing paid subscription costing 35 euros per month. The regulator received hundreds of reports from affected consumers who felt the company had not been clear about this.

Radar, a Dutch consumer affairs television program, also raised the issues with the website last year and spoke to several people who had unknowingly signed up for a subscription. One affected customer said he did not recall clicking on a paid link, “because then I would have left the page immediately,” he told the program.

Foreign regulators had also contacted the ACM after receiving complaints about the Dutch company. The website is currently still active for existing customers.

Edwin van Houten, director of consumer affairs at the ACM, stressed that what Cvneed is doing is not allowed. “A company may only charge costs that are justified and disclosed in advance, so the consumer is aware of them and agrees to them. Such important facts may not be hidden or omitted.”

The ACM confronted Cvneed about the complaints, after which the company stopped recruiting new customers, according to the regulator.

“If incorrect information is given about the price or features of a product, or if important information is omitted or concealed, consumers can cancel the agreement,” the ACM further explained. “In that case, there is no obligation to pay.”