At the beginning of 2023, the obligation to retrofit B2C sales will enter into force, which will significantly change the scope of telesales activities. The obligation will apply to both new and existing B2C customers.
What is the ex-post verification obligation and what does it mean in practice?
Until now, the business and the consumer-customer have been able to conclude a contract orally during a sales call.However, from 1 January 2023, this will no longer be possible, and an offer will have to be delivered to the customer in writing or by other durable means after or during the sales call. The customer must then confirm the offer/contract by a separate confirmation measure.
Can SMS be used for debriefing?
Text messaging will play an important role in the practical implementation of the ex-post verification obligation. Since telephone vendors already have the customer's telephone number, sending an offer by SMS is easy and natural. It is also very easy for the customer to accept the offer by replying to the SMS as requested - even during the call.
As such, a text message can be used to deliver an offer to the customer, as long as it includes all the relevant elements of the transaction. The SMS remains proof to the customer of the service or product sold. The customer can accept the offer by replying directly to the SMS.
As the offer is more complex and more extensive, there has also been some consideration of whether it is possible to send the customer an SMS with a link to the offer. After reading the document, the customer would accept the offer by replying to the SMS. However, this is not yet unambiguously accepted, so further interpretation by the FCA is still awaited.
By chaining text messages together, you can fit a surprising amount of text in one message. This assumes that a relatively large number of contracts/offers can be delivered directly to the customer via SMS.
How can Quriiri help with the implementation of the verification services?
With the services provided by Quriiri, back-up verification can be carried out in a number of different ways. For example, text messages can be integrated into our customer's own ERP or order management system using our interfaces, making it convenient to send text messages from the customer's own system.
Quriiri's interface tools enable the implementation of verification services even without integration or technical expertise. The tools allow confirmation text messages to be sent quickly and easily and the responses/orders are accumulated in Quriiri in the desired location, where they can be conveniently output, for example, in an Excel file. Received orders/confirmations can also be forwarded in real time to the desired email addresses.
Please contact our sales team at myynti@quriiri.fi or by calling 010 349 3800, and together we will map out your needs and see what is the most suitable way for you to receive a follow-up SMS message!
For more information: Competition and Consumer Authority
