Harassing calls: what to do about unwanted calls?

1. What telemarketers can and cannot do

Since April 2012, the Swiss Federal Act on Unfair Competition has imposed clear restrictions on sales and marketing calls. Consumers can protect themselves by making an entry in the sales and marketing calls telephone directory.

Companies that disregard this preference may be penalized. Since 1 January 2021, health insurance companies have also refrained from making advertising calls or sending advertising emails in accordance with their industry agreement.

Beware of competitions

The tightening of the Swiss Act on Unfair Competition only applies to calls in cases where there has been no previous contact between the person contacted and the company making the call. For this reason, many companies collect addresses and telephone numbers through the use of competitions or similar.

If you take part in such a competition, you are essentially agreeing to your contact details being used for advertising purposes. You should therefore be careful about disclosing your address and phone number.

2. When are sales calls permitted?

Your telephone provider or other companies that already have a relationship with you as a customer may call you for sales and marketing purposes. Calls that you have expressly requested are also permitted. When you receive a sales or advertising call, state that you do not wish to receive any further calls. The caller has to accept this.

3. Tips on what you can do about unwanted and nuisance calls

• End unwanted calls quickly: if you receive a marketing call, ask the caller where they obtained your phone number. Find out which health insurance company is behind the call. If you don’t receive a clear answer straight away, end the conversation politely but firmly.

• Request that your data is deleted: insist that the company calling you removes your details from their list.

• Put an asterisk entry in the telephone book: adding an asterisk to your telephone number means you do not wish to receive advertising or marketing calls. A sales call to a number with an asterisk entry can constitute unfair competition. If you wish, you can file a complaint with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) or report it to the police.

• Install the local.ch app on your mobile phone: the telephone book app from local.ch recognizes thousands of phone numbers from untrustworthy call centres. Once the app is installed, it will identify calls from these numbers as “telemarketing”. You can then simply ignore or end these calls. The app is available in the App Store and from Google Play

• Report unwanted calls to Comparis: if you receive spam calls, report them to us via e-mail at info@comparis.ch. We will then notify the relevant bodies.

• Block call centres: were you contacted by a call centre and don’t want to receive any further calls? If so, block the telephone number on your phone.

• Submit an official complaint: you can submit a complaint directly to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) (in German, French and Italian only). SECO can then take action in the name of the government against companies for whom complaints have been received about unlawful sales and marketing calls. The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner provides a sample letter for requesting information about your personal data (in German).

• Block calls from withheld numbers: many callers withhold their number when they ring you. It might be worth blocking all calls from withheld numbers.

4. Unwanted calls from health insurers

Despite legal restrictions and the industry agreement that came into force on 1 January 2021 (which was not signed by all health insurance companies) many consumers are complaining of receiving further unwanted calls made on behalf of health insurance companies, even though they have never had contact with them before.

Sometimes the calls are made from abroad using Swiss phone numbers. Sometimes the numbers are hidden. Such call centres use computers to keep calling all number combinations until someone answers.

6. About the industry agreement

Since 1 January 2021, most health insurers have signed an industry agreement. This generally prohibits insurers from cold calling and sending e-mails to people with whom they have had no previous contact.

Another aim of the industry agreement is to ensure the quality of intermediary services. It also limits the commission that can be paid for each new customer to brokers not employed by the insurer to 70 francs (basic insurance) or an annual premium (supplemental insurance).

Health insurers that do not comply can be fined

A supervisory committee (link available in German, French and Italian only) looks into any violations of the industry agreement and can issue fines to any health insurers found to have committed an offence.

The Swiss Parliament has instructed the Federal Council to draft a bill. This allows the Federal Council to declare this or another industry agreement legally binding, meaning that all health insurers must comply with it.

7. Comparis does not make calls or offer home consultations

Comparis does not offer home consultations or acquire customers via telemarketing. Some call centres shamelessly claim to be calling on behalf of comparis.ch, thereby abusing consumer trust in the company. If you receive a sales call or appointment request supposedly from Comparis, be aware that this is never authorized by Comparis. 

Some callers manipulate the telephone system in such a way that the Comparis telephone number appears on the telephone display of the call recipient. Comparis kindly asks you to report any such abuse immediately via e-mail at info@comparis.ch. In specific cases, Comparis reserves the right to take legal steps against individuals who misuse the name or telephone number of comparis.ch.