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Telephone calls from brokers

Calls from brokers are often unsolicited. CSS Insurance advocates for strict rules and observes high quality standards.

New industry agreement

CSS Insurance has argued against cold calling and in favour of capping commissions for brokers for some time. The new industry agreement represents another step in this direction: many health insurers will now refrain from cold calling customers. In addition, the commission earned will be limited to CHF 70 for basic insurance and the equivalent of one annual premium for supplementary health insurance. A court of arbitration can impose stiff penalties on companies that fail to stick to the agreement. The agreement comes into force in 2021.

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Reporting advertising calls

Making telemarketing calls to people with a starred listing (*) in the telephone directory is basically forbidden. You can report violations on the website of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and complain about unsolicited advertising calls. You can also report any other unfair business practices there.

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Comprehensive quality standards

CSS Insurance already takes a variety of measures to ensure a high level of quality and transparency. Together with the other members of the industry association curafutura, it has, among other things, defined and adopted the following quality standards:

  • Brokers working for CSS Insurance must be registered with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) – an important point as brokers often call from abroad (but with a Swiss number!).
  • Clearly defined telemarketing quality standards must be observed. These include: no pretending to call for a different reason (such as market research); indicating where the caller obtained the address and phone number; providing written confirmation of insurance taken out by phone, with a guaranteed 14-day right to withdraw from the contract.
  • CSS pledges that its employees and external brokers will not engage in telephone cold calling (i.e. calling people who have not previously been in contact with the company).
  • Health insurers will work only with properly trained brokers.

All other aspects of the full curafutura Code of Conduct can be found in the quality standards.