EcoCare asks for your understanding: “Everything had to go very quickly.” –
58 minutes ago
This was preceded by a report in which a reader described his experience. He wanted to ask about the result of a test, called the number that began with “032” on the homepage – and then got a surprise. After several unsuccessful attempts, a cell phone bill of 25.74 euros fluttered into his house. The sum resulted solely from the connections with the service provider.
Other affected persons
After our report, other victims came forward. “Here it was clearly neglected to ensure transparency towards the consumer,” said a woman and asked: “How can you tell with such an area code that it is a chargeable service number? There was neither an announcement nor one Notice on the website what the costs are per minute. “
In the meantime, EcoCare has reported on this matter and promises to reimburse the telephone costs. We regret the inconvenience and at the same time ask for your understanding. The company explains how the unusually high costs came about as follows: In 2020, EcoCare set up numerous Corona test centers at various locations within Germany, including in Nuremberg, under great time pressure.
Enormous time pressure
“Due to the pressure from the pandemic and partly the requirements of our public clients, this had to happen very quickly,” said a spokesman. “We were required to provide a hotline within a very short time, via which we could be reached by the customers by telephone. Sometimes we only had two days for this.”
Because there were usually no landline lines in the test station rooms, a service provider was provisionally used. This ensured accessibility under a location-independent number also via the Internet. “Otherwise we would often not have been able to ensure that we could be reached on site by telephone at such short notice and could only offer the tests with a considerable delay.” With the 032 numbers, it also depends on the existing mobile phone and landline contracts of the caller whether and to what extent additional costs are incurred. EcoCare: “As a result, calls often incurred inappropriately high costs, but not through us.”
Number from Düsseldorf
In the meantime, EcoCare only gives a normal landline number from Düsseldorf with 0211 688 7500. “Our customers only have to pay the normal national landline charges, which, if you have a flat rate, are also covered by this”, guarantees EcoCare.
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