Nuisance calls: what to do about unwanted sales 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 telephone directory in objection to sales and marketing calls.

Companies that ignore this objection may be penalized. Since 1 January 2021, health insurers have also refrained from making advertising calls or sending advertising emails in accordance with their industry agreement. A new industry agreement will apply to all health insurers from September 2024.

Beware of competitions

The tightening of the Unfair Competition Act 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 competitions, you’re 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 don’t wish to receive any further calls. The caller has to accept this.

3. What you can do about unwanted and nuisance calls

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

• Be careful with purported surveys: call centres often ring under the pretext of a survey. Their goal is to schedule an appointment with an insurance broker later. End the call if you don’t receive any information about how your number was obtained and on whose behalf they are calling.

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

• Put an asterisk entry in the telephone directory: adding an asterisk to your telephone number means you do not wish to receive any 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 directory app from local.ch recognizes thousands of phone numbers used by untrustworthy call centres. Once the app is installed, it will identify calls from these numbers as “telemarketing”. You can then simply ignore or dismiss these calls. The app is available in the App Store and from Google Play

• 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) (not available in English). 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 letter template for requesting information about your personal data (in German).

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

4. Nuisance calls from health insurers

Despite legal restrictions and the industry agreement, many consumers complain that they still receive phone calls on behalf of health insurers, 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

A new, generally binding industry agreement (not available in English) for health insurers will apply from the beginning of September 2024. This agreement generally prohibits insurers from cold calling and sending emails 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 to brokers for each new customer to 70 francs (basic insurance) or 16 monthly premiums (supplemental insurance).

The supervisory authorities investigate violations of the industry agreement and can issue fines of up to 100,000 francs to any health insurers found to have committed an offence.

7. Comparis does not make calls or knock on any doors

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 email 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.