Insurer Achmea and Bol.com, the mail-order arm of the Ahold Delhaize group are illegally recording clients while they are on hold, consumer programme Radar has found.

Recordings for training purposes are allowed but not when people are waiting for someone to take their call, privacy watchdog Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) has said.

“That is not necessary for the purpose of the recording,” AP spokesperson Jos Boerties told the programme.

“You can record a conversation when it’s about entering into a contract, or to improve the service but not when someone’s on hold. That would be listening in on someone’s private business,” he said.

Achmea and Bol.com said it is technically impossible to stop the recording while the client is waiting to be put through, but other companies, such as KLM, Ziggo, Eneco, Vattenfall, T-Mobile, Nationale Nederlanden, ASR, ING and Rabobank, said they do halt recording while people are on hold.

Bol.com said only “very few conversations were listened to by a few authorised staff”.