During the late summer, the European Consumer Centre Finland received a dozen contacts about the Finnish-language health assessment service, where it is not clearly stated that the service is subject to a fee. The Consumer Ombudsman and the Consumer Advisory Services of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority have also received individual notifications of the same service. According to the notifications, consumers have decided to respond to the health assessment survey (“2 minuutin terveystarkastelu”), for example through social media advertisements. Consumers answer questions about themselves in the survey and once they have completed it, they are emailed an invoice, a health assessment and other health-related material. The website addresses used for the survey include at least Terveysarvio.com, Terveysarvios.com and Terveysarviointi.com. The service provider declares that it is a Hungarian trader but this has not been confirmed.
According to the website, the service provider offers individual and personal health assessments. However, the fact that the service is subject to a fee is not clearly stated on the website, as the price of EUR 79.99 is only given on the first page of the health survey in a small font. In addition, for users directed to the website through a social media advertisement, the checkbox for accepting the terms and conditions may be pre-ticked on behalf of the consumer.
The consumers have primarily first received an invoice amounting to EUR 59 from the service provider, for which a payment period of 10 days has been granted. If the consumer has not paid the invoice within this period, the invoice amount has increased to EUR 79.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, a trader must ensure that the consumer explicitly accepts the obligation to pay associated with an online order. This is not the case in the health assessment service, as the view displayed in connection with its order button does not clearly and unambiguously indicate that the consumer is expected to pay for the service. On the other hand, the consumer’s obligation to pay cannot be based on a selection box that has been pre-ticked on behalf of the consumer.
As the service provider has not made sure that the consumer accepts the payment obligation the order of the health assessment service is not binding on the consumer. To invoke the non-binding nature of the order, the consumer must notify the service provider at the latest one year after entering into the agreement.
What you should do if you have completed the health survey and would like to cancel your order
- Submit a written complaint to the company as soon as possible but no later than one year after the order was placed. You can write the complaint in Finnish and forward it using the contact form available on the service provider’s website. In your complaint, point out that as the service provider failed to confirm that you accepted the payment obligation associated with the order, you have the right to cancel the order.
- Take a photograph or a screenshot of the message you are sending through the contact form before submitting it. Save the complaint and any response you may get from the company.
- Once you have notified that you have cancelled your order, you do not have to pay any invoices. However, if you have already paid the invoice, the service provider must refund the payment received from you no later than 30 days after the cancellation of the purchase.
- Contact the European Consumer Centre in Finland, if the service provider transfers the invoice to a collection agency for collection despite your complaint. At the same time, notify the debt collection agency that this is an unfounded collection – you can use the Complaint Assistant available on the website of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority to make a complaint.
The health assessment service is part of a wider phenomenon, also problems in other countries
“The health assessment service belongs to the same category as the car price valuation service, on which we recently received hundreds of contacts from consumers. It is really a good idea to hold on to your personal information and never to enter it into a service you are unfamiliar with”, advises Oskari Stenius, Senior Specialist at the European Consumer Centre Finland.
Similar health assessment services are also advertised to consumers in other Nordic countries. In particular, the European Consumer Centres in Norway and Denmark have received several complaints from consumers in their country. A regional German consumer organisation also warned consumers against the same operator back in June.