Temu wins our 2024 Consumer Gold Cactus

In this Olympic year, what could be more natural than establishing a podium for the 2024 edition of the Cactus of Consumption. Awarded for the eighth year by 60 million consumers, they distinguish the companies that have behaved the worst with their customers. Three competitors clearly stand out; deciding between them was a complicated editorial exercise.

Particularly this year, in one way or another, the three winners each questioned the health and safety of their customers. There are, in fact, serious questions about the safety of certain products sold by Temu, about Nestlé Waters' water treatments or about Stellantis' procedures. Another common point: their inability to reassure the consumer, and the use of unconvincing communication, which amplified the concern rather than the reverse.

It would have been a shame to ignore other fiascos of this year, those of Primagaz or Dazn. It would also have been unfortunate to forget major phenomena, such as the massive hacking of personal data, illustrated by what happened at Free, or the reluctance of some to use logos that clearly inform the customer, such as the energy performance diagnosis (DPE) in housing, the Origin'Info label, or the NutriScore on food products.

CACTUS D’OR Temu: low prices that can be expensive

Products from the other side of the planet, delivered free of charge and sold at ridiculous prices, what's behind it? Temu, a gigantic digital bazaar, is arriving in Europe in April 2023. In the catalog, a quantity of products at ridiculous prices. All sold using the worst marketing tricks: countdown, extreme discounts, display of the number of copies already sold, flattering comments, Wheel of Fortune, notifications galore… A year and a half later, Temu has 92 million customers in Europe. The latter do not pay much, they are offered delivery costs and can even be reimbursed without having to return the product. If the price drops, the platform reimburses the difference. What's the problem, then?

There are several. First, the products: instructions for use in Chinese, cosmetics without a list of ingredients, toys with small parts that come off, as shown by several tests by the European Toy Federation… quality and safety leave something to be desired . Customs, overwhelmed by goods coming from China, are forced to let many non-compliant products pass through.

Then the question arises of the profitability of this platform, which displays colossal losses. “Temu loses, on average, $30 per order,” estimates the American media Wired. The interest would therefore not be commercial. “The Temu app is clearly a spying tool, says Damien Bancal, cybercrime expert. Once installed, it grants itself the right to explore your entire phone. confirming the findings of a Grizzly Research report. Temu denies these claims. Last March, she was singled out for her “Cash reward” operation. It offered vouchers and a sum in a PayPal account to new customers in exchange for lifetime use of their “photos, name, voice, opinions, statements, biographical information and hometown”. Touching, such intimacy with the client!

SILVER CACTUS Nestlé: in very troubled waters

Nestlé mineral waters are not as natural as they claim. For several years, the group has used prohibited treatments for its three Vosges waters – Vittel, Contrex, Hépar –, according to a report from Fraud Repression. Nestlé used unauthorized UV treatments and activated carbon filters to maintain their “health safety”. A report from the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs from July 2022 concluded that 30% of mineral waters undergo non-compliant treatments.

All Nestlé brands are affected by the use of prohibited treatments to eradicate contaminants such as coliform bacteria and traces of pollutants: microfiltration below 0.8 microns, activated carbon and ultraviolet. Since then, she claims to have given up on ultraviolet treatments and activated carbon filters, but admits to having maintained microfiltration devices, with the agreement of the government. These treatments, although non-compliant, protected consumers from the degradation of water quality… and this is Nestlé's line of defense. In short, there is deception, but it is to protect the consumer…

BRONZE CACTUS Defective airbags: the Stellantis fiasco

In the spring, more than 246,000 C3 and DS3 owners were suddenly ordered to stop driving their vehicles. Pattern: one “risk of airbag rupture, likely to cause serious injury or even death”. A double fear seized the owners: that of knowing that at any moment they could have been victims of this defect, and then quickly that of having to continue to take this risk, in the absence of solutions proposed by the manufacturer. Because the dealers were quickly bottled up by too many appointments made to change the equipment.

The possibility of using a loan vehicle was impossible, given its very small fleet. Takata had recognized the defect of its airbags in 2017, just before going bankrupt, the risk had been known since 2015. This did not prevent Stellantis from continuing the sale of models equipped with these airbags until 2019, without informing the buyers. Several deaths overseas following the explosion of Takata airbags did not encourage Stellantis to communicate. A new fatal accident, in the Pyrenees, finally triggered the recall campaign in May 2024. Stellantis assured, at the beginning of October, that 114,000 cars had been upgraded, and 90,000 were to follow. But the problem is even greater since the risk also concerns C4, DS4 and DS5. Stellantis had to prioritize recalls.

CACTUS OF FAILURE Primagaz warms up its customers

A failed IT switchover at the start of the year… and here is a catastrophe for Primagaz and its customers. Considerable delivery delays, loss of all orders, poor billing service. Customers found themselves without a bill, but above all without heating in the heart of winter. When summer came, the delivery difficulties were resolved, but not the invoice problems, and the amounts owed were sometimes enormous. Primagaz promised to accept payments in several installments free of charge in customer areas… which remained difficult to access.

CACTUS DU LOW COST Dazn: poor man’s football

Ligue 1 fans paid too much for a low-end service. Launched at €29.99, the subscription quickly dropped to €19.90, due to commercial failure. Still too expensive: today, only 400,000 customers are subscribed. The failure comes partly from the low resources allocated to production. “Everything is low cost,” summarizes Romain Molina, independent journalist specializing in the field of football.

The number of cameras has, for example, decreased by a third compared to last season.” A previous season piloted by Amazon Prime with careful sound and images, a pre- and post-match show: all of this has disappeared on Dazn. “This is the first time that we have made such a mediocre offer to football fans, which was respected neither by the clubs, nor by the broadcaster, nor by the League, which manages the production of the matches,” deplores Romain Molina. Offside.

OPACITY CACTUS Danone was le Nutri'Score

Wrong letter obtained? No problem, we'll remove it. Danone has thus erased the Nutri'Score of its Actimel, Danonino, Alpro, Danone and Activia drinking yogurts. The reason is quite stupid: their score would have been downgraded with the new way of calculating the Nutri'Score.

After Bjorg, Krisprolls and certain cold meats from Fleury Michon, Danone completes the list of those who prefer to hide their nutritional profiles rather than improve them. Since its creation, Nutri'Score has made many enemies, angry at seeing an infamous letter appear, even if it is not obligatory. Scheduled for June 2024, the new Nutri'Score version, taken by decree, is still awaited. Time to finish the yogurt?

CACTUS OF VULNERABILITY Free, it's leaking everywhere!

The theft of data to perpetrate fraud is the calamity of the year, not only among the customers of the access provider. Third-party payment managers for mutual insurance companies, Le Slip français, Speedy, Dropbox, Dell, Boulanger, Cultura, Truffaut, l'Assurance retirement, RED by SFR, Meilleurtaux.com, Ornikar, Picard… the list of companies victims of the theft of personal data of customers continues to grow in 2024. But the most spectacular attack hit Free. The hackers seized two files: the first contained the personal data of 19.1 million customers, and the second 5.1 million bank details.

However, in its initial communication, Free did not mention the exfiltration of banking data, the most worrying of course. On October 27, hackers distributed a sample of more than 100,000 IBANs on a forum, and put the whole set on sale for $70,000. Free ended up alerting affected customers. In February and early October, the operator had already undergone a “consultation of personal data which could lead to a loss of confidentiality”. In short, the protection at Free seems insufficient in the face of pirates who have made this activity a cutting-edge criminal industry.

UNWANTED PRESENCE CACTUS Carrefour Bio: bizarre ingredients

No luck for the private label. On two occasions, we found undesirable ingredients in Carrefour Bio products in our tests. In April, the lamb's lettuce in sachets contained a metabolite resulting from the degradation of a herbicide (dichlobenil), banned since 2009. Unfortunate for an organic salad. Error or intentional addition? Given the quantities, we can think of deliberate use, which Carrefour denies, which assures that this metabolite, despite its ban, “remains persistent in the soil”. And then, this summer, surprise: we found traces of pork DNA in “pure beef” Carrefour merguez. A poorly cleaned production line? In any case, this merguez stung as hard as a cactus!

DOPING CACTUS Trustpilot: when trust can be bought

Does the rating platform boost the ratings of companies that pay for it. In any case, it is possible, for companies tired of their poor ratings, to pay for a service from Trustpilot consisting of asking customers to write a positive review, before publishing it. For a few thousand euros to more than €20,000 per year, depending on the size of the company, it is possible to obtain a significant increase in your rating. As in cycling, when the opinion is positive, it is because there is a suspicion of doping…