Delivery problem, defective product, scam on the internet… you will now be able to report any problem encountered with a company directly from your phone, in a few clicks. Three years after the creation of the SignalConso site, the government announced on Monday the establishment of the mobile version of this service, in order to simplify the procedures for consumers. The free application, presented by Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate in charge of SMEs, Trade, Crafts and Tourism, offers any individual to use this intermediary in the event of a consumer dispute with a company. “With SignalConso, we have set up an innovative method which no longer aims to bring information down from the administration to the consumer, but to bring it up from the consumer to the administration”, specifies the minister.
Since its launch in 2020, the SignalConso site has allowed consumers to report any situation they consider unusual, or to contact an agent of the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), which may intervene if necessary, in particular in the event of regular reports. The company, directly notified, can respond to the consumer, in the event that he has decided to transmit his contact details, in order to find an amicable solution. Since its launch, the SignalConso site has been used by more than 320,000 consumers. The platform recorded 500,000 reports, including 75,000 for online purchases and 23,000 for in-store purchases, according to a press release from the Ministry of the Economy. 55,000 professionals have created their account on the platform: 66% read the reports sent to them and 88% respond to them. “Most companies take into account what is reported and correct,” said Sarah Lacoche, the new director general of the DGCCRF.
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The application offers the same functionalities as the online platform, but several changes have been implemented to simplify reporting: the “dispute related to a purchase” process has been split in order to distinguish purchases on the Internet, which represent almost half of the reports, of those in store: 15 agents of the DGCCRF are notably part of the “influencer brigade”. The “abusive canvassing” category has been revised to be able to report telephone canvassing carried out outside the scheduled hours, or carried out too regularly. Finally, in view of the Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, SignalConso is developing a route for “major sporting events” in French and English, in order to anticipate possible consumer disputes to which visitors could be faced.
This new tool will in particular enable the DGCCRF to target emerging problems more easily, especially in the event that a company has received numerous reports. Depending on the seriousness and frequency of the situation, or depending on the quality of the company’s response, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention may initiate a control, an investigation, and possibly a sanction. . The administration also wishes to encourage more professionals to take note of reports made by consumers. The DGCCRF claims to have identified the sectors of activity using this service too little, and wishes to meet them in order to guarantee an improvement of SignalConso, but also greater efficiency in the treatment of consumer disputes: the average response time of companies is currently 9 to 10 days.
