Dutch consumers' association Consumentenbond took down over 2,700 fake online stores by getting in touch with their hosting providers late last year. This brings the total of fake online stores shut down to over 4,500 in 2018, the organization announced, RTL Nieuws reports.
The association calls the fake online stores a plague for Dutch consumers. Consumentenbond tracked them down through, among other things, language errors, strange web addresses and tips from observant users.
Consumers' association Consumentenbond is demanding that KLM removes the 'no-show' clause from its general terms and conditions. If the Dutch airline fails to do so, the consumers' association will take the matter to court, RTL Nieuws reports.
PostNL was flooded with complaints in the run-up to Pakjesavond on Tuesday. Hundreds of customers were worried that their Sinterklaas gifts would not arrive on time, AD reports.
The fact that Sinterklaas is increasingly buying his gifts online has its disadvantages. Online shops, sorting centers, and package deliverers were overflowing with packages this past week, according to the newspaper.
Consumers' association Consumentenbond filed a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority against Google. According to the union, Google 'tricks' Android users into giving permission for their smartphones' location to be used, which is against the law, ANP reports.
Research by Consumentenbond showed that 54% of Dutch Android users have the function 'web&app' enabled. This is used to keep track of location history. The majority of these users did not know that this option was activated, the Dutch association said.
Many Dutch companies do not deal carefully with their customers' data, consumers association Consumentenbond concludes after studying five large companies in different industries. Even companies that you won't expect collect data on a large scale to sell to third parties, the association warns, BNR reports.
Consumentenbond looked at PostNL, Prenatal, Sanoma, Ticketmaster and Zalando. They were more or less randomly chosen, which means they are not necessarily the worst in the market when it comes to handling customer data.
Many holiday homes in the Netherlands are not cleaned well, according to a study by consumers association Consumentenbond. Researchers regularly found e.coli, hair, fungus, insects, and stains on walls and mattresses while doing this study.
Consumentenbond had mystery guests visit 30 holiday parks across the Netherlands. These guests inspected the cleanliness of the rooms, also using a UV light to check for bodily fluids. Fourteen of the checked holiday parks' hygiene was not up to standard. Especially the walls in the kitchens and bathrooms showed problems.
It's Black Friday today. And the American tradition of offering massive sales and discounts on the Friday after Thanksgiving seems to now also be firmly rooted in the Netherlands. According to research agency Motivaction, more and more Dutch shops, businesses and consumers are participating in the discount circus, NOS reports.
In Rotterdam, it's not only shops offering discounts. The municipality teamed up with retailers, hotels and museums to make an entire weekend of it, according to the broadcaster.
Consumers association Consumentenbond is very critical about the freshness of shrimp sold in Dutch supermarkets Albert Heijn, Jumbo and Lidl. Jumbo's shrimp also contains more preservatives than is permitted by Dutch law, according to the association, NU.nl reports.
Almost all health insurers in the Netherlands have so-called "clone policies" among their offer, consumers' association Consumentenbond warns. These are policies from the same provider that have different names, but only actually differ in price. That's not allowed in the Netherlands, but insurers get away with it by offering these policies through subsidiaries or intermediaries, according to the association, RTL Nieuws reports.
Banks treat their customers with a mortgage "too often as a cash cow", Bart Combee, director of Dutch consumers assocation Consumentenbond said on Tuesday. A study by the association showed that banks often charge higher than necessary costs for adjustments to mortgages, ANP reports.
A "scarily high" 31 percent of sushi meals that are delivered to customers' homes contain too much bacteria, according to consumers association Consumentenbond. This is caused by poor hygiene in the preparation of the meals, the association concludes after testing 160 sushi samples from 20 restaurants in five cities, NU.nl reports.
Poor hygiene standards include using dirty cutting boards and employees not washing their hands before working with the food. In many cases the delivered sushi was fresh, the Consumentenbond added.
Special gluten-free products are not always a healthier alternative to regular products, consumers association Consumentenbond reports. A study done by the association revealed that gluten-free products often contain more fat, sugar and/or salt and less fiber than similar products with gluten, ANP reports.
The association compared the ingredient lists of five gluten-free A-brand products to similar products containing gluten. The results told a scary tale.
Several prominent Dutch health websites are not careful enough with their visitors' privacy, according to consumers organization Consumentenbond. A number use cookies without permission and some use an un-encrypted connection, NU.nl reports.
Claim organization Wakkerpolis filed a 3.2 billion euros lawsuit against insurer NN Group for unjust fees on investment insurance. This collective corporate profiteering claim is being filed on behalf of about 500 thousand NN customers and in cooperation with consumers organization Consumentenbond, ANP reports.
This collective claim follows a won lawsuit involving one file last year. In that case complaints institute Kifid ruled that NN had to reimburse the initial costs of an investment insurance because the customer was not well informed about those costs.
Thousands of counterfeit products are traded over Dutch website Bol.com, watchdog React said to AD on Wednesday. This includes things like cellphones, earphones, batteries and chargers.
Dutch consumers organization Consumentenbond issued a warning about the "My Friend Cayla" doll, following research by its Norwegian counterpart. According to the Norwegian organization, anyone with a smart phone can eavesdrop on children through the doll, or even talk to them. All that is needed is a bluetooth connection to the doll.
Although air travelers in Europe are entited to compensation for flight delays of more than three hours, about half of Dutch passengers do not get this compensation, the Telegraaf reports.
The newspaper based its report on figures from organizations like Reisrecht, Vluchtvertraacht, EUclaim and Consumentenbond. According to Henry Noorderhaven of EUclaim, every year about 80 thoousand Dutch miss out on this compensation, most of them get talked out of claiming. This involves an amount of about 35 million euro, according to him. "the aviation inspectorate does nothing."
According to consumers association Consumentenbond, the Dutch health insurers have more than 3.3 billion euros in "extra" reserves, even though they're making less profits. The association calls on the insurers to stop "hoarding unnecessarily" and "do everything to reduce the premium increases", ANP reports.
Figures from last year show that the four big insurers CZ, VGZ, Achmea and Menzis made half the profit they did in 2014. "But the four still managed to put 307 million into the reserve port in 2015", Bart Combee, director of the Consumentenbond said.
Small new energy firms in the Netherlands are much greener than their larger counterparts, according to the annual sustainability study. Of the five large energy companies, only Eneco scored a "sufficient" in the study
A majority of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, supports a free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada (CETA)
Almost all non-emergency call lines for doctors in the Netherlands are had to get hold of, according to a study by consumers organization Consumentenbond. The organization tested the waiting times for non emergency calls at 40 doctors, and 38 of them could not take the call within the legal standard of 2 minutes
Professional information and advise about health risks and vaccinations for traveling to tropical places often leaves something to be desired, according to a study by consumers association Consumentenbond. Mystery shoppers visited 20 doctors and vaccination centers and something was wrong or missing in every one of the consultations
Dutch hotel rooms are often unhygienic, according to a study done by consumers' association Consumentenbond. The association anonymously investigated 30 hotel rooms and found thick layers of dust on the floor, mildew and stains on the walls and yellow circles, hair and even blood on mattresses.
Nearly 40 percent of Dutch fell victim to debit- or credit card fraud over the past two years, according to a survey done by consumers' association Consumentenbond. In a third of the cases, money was actually stolen
