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Hello,

 

I have been with KPN for the past 2 and a half years. Recently I’ve tried to get a new phone but this has been impossible. Even though I’ve lived in Amsterdam for almost 10 years, KPN has my BRP that proves that, has my bank account details, my neto income details, I don’t have any sort of debt, etc., they still will not give me the phone with my desired plan because they don’t allow loans over €250 if you’re not Dutch. Please note that I am European, and therefore I don’t need any visa or any documents of the sort to reside here.

 

When the KPN employee explained this to me this morning I could not believe it. I honestly felt like I was treated like a criminal and that I was “less than” for absolutely no reason. Is it legal to discriminate against people for their nationality? I doubt it. Especially when you have all the documents and data to prove that they live in the country. I can understand this policy if they’re not able to prove they live here, but if they do, then what’s the problem?

 

I hope KPN changes this policy soon. I definitely will be investigating the legality of the matter because this is not okay.

Strange that your application has been denied.

But, can't you just buy a phone without a loan? That's just possible at other phone shops.

A loan is not obligated to buy a phone.

Even though I’ve lived in Amsterdam for almost 10 years,

Ehm, how is your Dutch?


Hallo @brodriguezse ,

You have to go to a real KPN Shop in the city. Then it 's possible. Also with loans alone 250 euro.

 

KPN wrote : 

We accept a variety of IDs, but there are a few restrictions as to which one can be used with online or phone ordering. This has to do with the technical limitations of our systems and is not meant to be discriminatory.

Accepted forms of ID are

  • EU passport given out here in the Netherlands
  • EU passport given out in another EU country
  • Dutch driver's license
  • Dutch ID
  • Residency permit
  • Diplomatic passport
  • Residency permit W

In addition to this, persons without a Dutch ID need a BRP from the county hall.

In our stores you can get a contract using any of these forms of ID. Online or by phone you can only get a contract with a Dutch ID or driver's license or an EU passport given out in the Netherlands. These restrictions are listed internally for all our employees to reference. So, if you have encountered a store where the employee was not aware of these, please let me know which store it was. We can give them feedback as to where they can find this information. 

 

When it comes to the loan, you can also get one if you do not have a Dutch ID. However, before we can give you a loan, we need to ascertain your credit rating. With loans above €250 we do the Incomecheck (ILT) which goes through the BKR. If that returns a negative result, we cannot give you a loan. For amounts lower than that, it does not need to go through the BKR. But, we still need some measure of certaincy that you will be in the Netherlands for the duration of your loan. As such, getting a loan may require additional paperwork.

 

bron : 

 


The issue has been resolved. The problem is actually a lack of or poor training of the staff.

 

I tried to get this phone through the KPN website on Wednesday. On Thursday morning I got notified that my purchase was rejected because I did not meet the requirements, so I called customer service. A very lovely lady thought it was very strange so she tried to arrange it for me, but was not able to and did not know why, so she told me to go to a store. On Friday, I went to a KPN shop where a very pleasant KPN employee tried to help me. He too did not know why I was not able to get the phone. He talked to to his manager in the shop, who also had no idea why I was getting rejected even though I theoretically met all the requirements. They ended up calling the offices and the person on the phone told them that I couldn’t get a loan of over €250 because I wasn’t Dutch (even though I made them aware several times that they had my BRP). So I went home feeling discriminated against. In the afternoon I decided to call customer service again and the gentleman that I talked to thought my situation was really strange, so he tried again, and surprise! It worked. I wasn’t rejected anymore. He said that the BRP is proof that I reside here, so the €250 limit does not apply in my case. All the other KPN employees that I talked to (the customer service lady, the 2 employees in the shop, the person that they called in the offices) were not aware that the BRP was enough.

 

KPN needs to do a better job in training their employees. It’s unacceptable that a company as big as KPN doesn’t prepare their employees for these type of scenarios, which given the amount of expats that live in the Netherlands, are not uncommon.


I'm sorry to hear you've had to endure so much trouble placing your order, but I'm glad it finally worked out!

Which KPN shop did you visit? I would like to leave some feedback about their lack of knowledge on this subject, so they can learn about it for future customers 🙂