Ofcom experiences record year issuing fines
A new Ofcom report reveals the range of enforcement action that the regulator has taken to protect listeners, viewers, telecoms customers and people using the airwaves.
Ofcom’s first Enforcement Report covers the three main areas where Ofcom takes enforcement action. The report reveals that during 2008 Ofcom opened new consumer protection investigations to protect people from silent calls, mis-selling and undesirable sales practices. They fined companies who broke the rules on silent calls over £100,000 and took formal action against companies who broke the rules on transferring broadband providers
Protecting telecoms customers
During 2008 Ofcom opened 17 investigations and three enforcement programmes covering both competition and consumer issues.
Financial penalties totalling £121,000 were imposed on four companies for making silent and abandoned calls including fining one company the maximum £50,000.
Silent calls can be very frightening, particularly for people who live alone. In the vast majority of cases, these silent calls are not made by pranksters, burglars or stalkers. In fact they’re the work of a machine, called a predictive dialler, used by call centres to phone large numbers of people. These can generate more calls than the call centre can deal with. Ofcom’s rules state that these must not exceed a certain number and that operators must put other safeguards in place, like pre-recorded messages.
Michelle Mitchell, charity director for Help the Aged and Age Concern, said: “Silent calls cause anxiety and distress to those on the receiving end. We are very pleased that Ofcom has taken action to reduce the incidence of these calls and has produced an informative guide telling people how they complain.”
Ofcom intends to take further action against companies who break the rules on silent calls during 2009.
Published: 17th May, 2009
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