Telecom advisors are ahead of the game

- Because we are impartial, we have the opportunity to run working groups with industry, authorities and consumer organizations. In addition to the basic work we do with our mediation-like procedure in individual consumer disputes, we have a major role in working for various types of cooperation and agreements that show that the industry takes great responsibility for increasing customer satisfaction," says Mattias Grafström, CEO of Telekomföretagarna.

Agreements with the telecom operators' financiers and/or authorities and consumer organizations can solve many problems quickly and efficiently.

- This provides accurate soft regulation and avoids hard regulation, which is expensive and slow to develop, often overshoots the mark and has negative side effects for both consumers and industry. All the improvements that our work leads to make life easier for the industry, consumers and authorities and provide higher customer satisfaction in a socio-economically cost-effective way. By joining the Telecoms Advisors, you show that you want to be involved and take responsibility for a better market. You are then also involved in developing agreements and industry practices that you must then live up to and can influence so that it is as accurate as possible," says Mattias Grafström.

What issues take up the most time for the Telecom Advisors?

- That is a difficult question to answer. Our main task is to handle cases, and we get about 7,000 a year. In those cases we help individual consumers and operators, but then we spend a lot of time proactively working to bring about improvements for the whole market.

What are the most common mistakes consumers generally make when signing a contract?

- From the cases we receive, we see that not enough care is taken when concluding contracts. Several of those who contact us have relied on verbal promises from salespeople and based on that information signed a contract without ensuring that the written agreement matches what was promised verbally. They allow themselves to be rushed by salespeople who try to push for a quick signature. It is one of our tasks to try to make consumers better consumers and to be more careful when they conclude contracts.

- Another part is to ensure that operators become better operators and take active steps to ensure that their sellers act in a serious manner and follow the rules of conduct that have been jointly developed. In principle, a consumer should be able to feel confident that the verbal and the written are consistent and it is the operator's responsibility to ensure that sales are done properly within their organization.

What are you most satisfied with your achievements since the start in 2006?

- Not any single thing really, but that we have generally been a major contributor to a better functioning market with higher customer satisfaction. We feel that we have great confidence from all sides. Operators, authorities, consumer organizations, consumers and the media all see us as a credible, competent and serious player.

What do you think will be your biggest challenges in the coming years?

- One recurring challenge is that it is a market with extremely rapid development and we must always be one step ahead to ensure that problems are avoided. Other recurring challenges are when new regulations come from the EU to be implemented in Swedish legislation and this causes many difficulties in practice where we must be quick to find functional solutions, for example through the revision of various agreements.

- Then we see a worrying trend with an increasing number of scams occurring. They do not originate from the telecom market, but in some cases they tarnish it by the fraudsters pretending to sell subscriptions or other things linked to the market.