The SignalConso platform, created by the General Directorate of Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), allows consumers to report in a few clicks anomalies encountered in their consumer acts and the professional concerned to propose solutions to resolve them amicably.
- When it is useful, the consumer is also informed by the DGCCRF about his rights and the applicable regulations. SignalConso transmits the reports to the companies concerned so that they can respond to consumers themselves and encourage them to correct themselves if necessary.
- The platform also allows the administration to improve the targeting of its investigations and to intervene only if necessary with professionals who would not respect the rules.
60,000 reports in one year
Since the national launch of the platform in February 2020, SignalConso has received more than 60,000 reports. Of all the reports read, 80% have resulted in a response from the company.The sectors with the highest number of reports in 2020 are the purchase of products in physical stores or online (33%), followed by "travel and leisure" (20%), particularly in connection with online ticket cancellations, and coronavirus-related issues (10%).
Next come issues related to telephony and the Internet (7%), banks/insurance/mutuals (6%) and water/gas/electricity networks (6%).
Half of the visits to the SignalConso site are now made from a cell phone.
25,0000 reports related to online commerce
Since October 2020, SignalConso has been making it easier for consumers to report online purchases and for companies to handle them.In December alone, 70% of the reports filed on the platform concerned reports related to e-commerce. These reports concern various issues: delivery problems, product quality problems, cancellation of airline tickets purchased online, inability to unsubscribe, failure to respect the withdrawal period, etc.
More than 5000 reports related to Covid
Since March 2020, SignalConso has integrated a section specifically dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic. The epidemic has indeed created new needs: reports related to price regulation or to the quality of certain hydroalcoholic gels and masks, scams with miracle cures when shopping online or in physical stores...The DGCCRF reports 5,000 reports related to COVID-19, including nearly 1,400 during the spring 2020 containment period
New features in 2021
The DGCCRF identifies a series of improvements to SignalConso implemented throughout the year 2020, thanks in particular to a strong interaction with its users. Consumers can now easily add a photograph of the product or service, attach a document or any other element that avoids a long description.In 2021, the DGCCRF plans to, among other things:
- Give consumers the ability to report a company whose identity they do not know. This is particularly useful in the case of unwanted telephone or door-to-door solicitation.
- Simplify the process for consumers in the event of a dispute, by ensuring that the request formulated in SignalConso is considered as the preliminary step required to validly refer a dispute to a consumer mediator.
- To allow consumers who so wish to receive a specific individual response from the DGCCRF-RéponseConso service.
- Enable consumers to report unsafe non-food products, particularly in connection with the new single site for product recalls, RecallConso.
- Consolidate SignalConso's contribution to professionals, to help smaller businesses manage their relationships with consumers
- Consolidate the use of SignalConso among DGCCRF agents to better target investigations.
SignalConso, a state-owned startup
SignalConso was developed as a state-owned start-up, incubated within BetaGouv.fr at the interministerial digital department (DINUM).Operation in state start-up mode requires compliance with the following values:
- The product is built to be accessible and understandable by all;
- The code is open, the indicators public and the work of the team transparent;
- The impact is measured and developments are based on tests to continuously improve the product;
- The team is organized in a horizontal manner, its members are versatile and supportive;
- There is no excessive planning, the startup develops in a state-of-the-art agile mode.
