Since September 2020, consumer organization Test Aankoop has already received 466 complaints about the ‘forced’ conclusion of contracts after purchasing an Apple product from the companies Switch and SFAM. Customers were offered free insurance for a month when purchasing a smartphone, tablet or computer. To do this, they had to sign documents and provide their account number. Afterwards it turned out that they had concluded an insurance contract for one year, for example.
The customer service of the companies turned out to be unreachable and never came up with answers. “The testimonials are so numerous that we can only conclude that it is a clever strategy by Switch and SFAM,” said Simon November, spokesperson for Test Aankoop. The organization has lodged a complaint with the Economic Inspectorate and the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) and advises the consumers concerned to block the direct debit and demand the refund of the amounts paid.
250 euros per month
According to former employees, the abuses started in 2020, when Switch was in bad shape and was taken over by the French insurance company SFAM. “Switch has always been a store that focused on Apple products and the best possible advice for our customers,” says Bart* (28). He worked at Switch for 3.5 years. “After the takeover, that suddenly changed. New managers were appointed and a thorough knowledge of Apple was no longer essential. We mainly had to sell insurance policies or so-called formulas. How many devices we sold was not important.”
To do this, the salespeople took a shrewd approach: “First we helped customers with their purchases as they do in ‘normal’ stores”, says Salah El Ghoul (32). He worked for a month and a half in the Switch store in Sint-Martens-Latem. “We then asked at the cash register if they already had a Switch club card, and if they wanted to take advantage of, for example, discounts. In this way we gave customers the feeling that they were missing something. If the customer said yes, we asked for some information, including a bank account number.”
“Immediately after that, we drew up a contract. Not for a free customer card, but for a subscription to one of the three paying formulas. For example to print photos or for insurance. The formulas often work via direct debit, so that the money is immediately taken from the account after one free month. If you take the three formulas, it can cost you up to 250 euros per month.” The only way a customer can cancel a subscription is through a customer number that is often difficult to reach. “We’ll show the contract itself in the blink of an eye. In this way, the customer does not actually know what he is drawing.”
League
However, the Switch employees did not just participate in the deception. There was pressure from above: “Managers from France regularly came over,” says Sam* (23). He was both salesperson and assistant manager at Switch. “They came to see whether you were actually presenting the formulas effectively. If that wasn’t the case, you were one of the first to leave during layoffs. They also wrote on boards which turnover figures had to be achieved. They wanted to strengthen the competition between sellers. They also promised a lot: if you sold a lot of insurance, you could double your wages. Something that was not true.”
▶ Check out a customer’s reaction about the deception at Switch:
“On my first day, I had a turnover of 8,000 euros,” Salah says. “My boss was not happy about that. After all, I hadn’t sold any subscriptions. According to my manager, we weren’t making enough profit on Apple products, so we had to sell those formulas. My colleagues who did sign many contracts were treated like royalty. They were allowed to go out with the big boss.”
Vulnerable people
“The pressure was constant,” says Toon* (30). He worked at Switch for almost two years. “It didn’t matter to whom the subscriptions were sold. A boss once said to one of my colleagues, “I don’t care if you contract with older people or people with disabilities. With the latter you write the contract, if necessary, in the name of the supervisor.’ But I just couldn’t get over such things. When I mentioned that to my managers, I was told I could leave at any time. But that didn’t work. I had a house to pay off and my wife was pregnant. After a while I got so confused with myself that I stopped anyway. I couldn’t take it anymore to sell people hot air.”
Salah also experienced these distressing situations: “My colleague once cheated on a man with Alzheimer’s. His son came by angrily a while later. My manager simply said to call customer service. The police had to come by then because the discussion got so out of hand.” The story has been confirmed by the police to The last news.
“Another day an autistic girl came over,” Salah continues. “When he saw her, my boss gave me an elbow. He meant that I could easily scam her. I really couldn’t. I’ve been ashamed so many times. At one point I even paid money out of my own pocket to customers. So I want to apologize to everyone I’ve ever framed.”
Aggression
In some stores, employee harassment went a step further: “I got a new manager overnight,” says Sam. “He had never been in the store before, and knew nothing about our operation. In addition, he was an alcoholic. There was even a bottle of vodka in the fridge. One day he became aggressive towards me in the store. I stood there with tears in my eyes. However, he was not fired. The man was able to present good sales figures, and that is all that matters with Switch. I immediately tendered my resignation after the incident. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Switch has not yet responded to our specific questions. The store does claim to conduct regular quality checks on customers. They have a score of 8.3 out of 10. The complaint percentage per store and per seller is also said to be below 1 percent.
*Bart, Sam and Toon are pseudonyms. Their real names are known to the editors.
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