Strange bundle contracts – economy – SZ.de

A contract can now be concluded on the Internet within a few minutes. Checkmarks under Terms and Conditions are willingly placed. “I have read the terms and conditions and I agree” – clicked, go with it. It’s probably the most common little lie in the digital age. And some providers take advantage of it quite outrageously.

Morus Markard teaches social psychology at the Free University of Berlin. In his private life, the 72-year-old and his wife are committed to helping refugees. Last year the couple helped a girl from Iraq to register for a new school. She should be in seventh grade.

In cooperation with the company Astra Direct, the school offers lockers (ADS) for the students. The schools make the space available, ADS takes care of organization, financing and maintenance. According to its own information, the company manages 800,000 compartments nationwide. Although Markard disliked the private organization, the benefit prevailed. “The child shouldn’t always have to carry everything with them.”

Then came the question of security – after all, such a compartment can be broken open. This is where ADS subsidiary Astra Direct Versicherung (ADV) comes into play. In 2019 she had a turnover of 2.3 million euros.

Markard signed his contract online. “All I had to do was enter the name of the school, choose the size of the locker and the rental format I wanted.” There was a choice between a one-off deposit of 30 euros without insurance or a locker insurance for ten euros per year.

The psychologist opted for coverage. Shortly before the conclusion, he ticked the boxes with which he confirmed that he had read the terms of the contract. In fact, of course, he hadn’t read it. After a year, Markard canceled the contract on July 31, 2020, the girl had changed schools. The ADV confirmed the termination.

Markard was all the more surprised when he noticed another debit from the insurer for EUR 8.90 in August. That was the premium for the international travel health insurance that was automatically taken out, which he should have canceled separately. Markard heard about this for the first time. “This insurance was definitely not mentioned in the locker contract or when the contract was signed.” But in the terms of the contract, which he had not read through.

The note on this can be found in the small print: “When the insurance contract is terminated, it is automatically transferred to the AKV 2017 international travel health tariff, which can be canceled by the main insured person from the start, at the current premium.” The insurer introduced this clause in March 2019. This was legitimate for him, after all, there was a corresponding note in the contract terms and the customer would be given the opportunity to cancel retrospectively within three months.

In the meantime, the ADV has stopped the questionable automatic continuation, says a spokesman. The clause has been deleted. It was noticed that the automatic continuation of the international travel protection was not communicated clearly enough. The displeasure of customers may have been the real reason. But the bundling of lockers and foreign travel health insurance remains.

Other insurers also have strange bundled offers. Consumer advocates warn against it. Especially in policies that are sold with other services – such as a trip or locker rental in this case – unwanted additional cover is often hidden. “I think it is inappropriate that you have undertaken such an adventurous combination of insurance policies and designed it to be comparatively non-transparent,” criticizes Morus Markard. Even today, he does not read through the contractual terms in detail before each purchase. It’s only different with insurance, where he is now cautious.

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