The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has accused direct life insurance marketer Aegon Direct Marketing Services Australia of making telephone sales that may have misled consumers.

ASIC says between July 2007 and October 2008, customers complained that they did not authorise the purchase of certain insurance products.

Following a review, ASIC has decided direct marketing calls may have given customers the impression they didn’t have to decide to buy the product straight away and were even offered a cooling-off period to review the policy.

“ASIC also had concerns with telephone sales representatives using the words ‘enrol’, ‘activate’, ‘start’, or ‘issue’ when referring to the purchase of an insurance product,” the regulator said.

The company has now agreed to take a number of steps to rectify the concerns, including changing words in its calling script, removing the phrase “you don’t have to make a decision today”, and asking customers to confirm they understand they are buying an insurance product.