HomeServe Fined £750K For Cold Calling

HomeServe have been fined £750K by Ofcom for cold calling during the period 1 February 2011 and 21 March 2011:

"HomeServe confirms that it has been notified that Ofcom has imposed a fine of £750,000 pursuant to section 130 of the Communications Act 2003 in relation to Ofcom's finding, that between 1 February 2011 and 21 March 2011 ('the Relevant Period') a number of outbound marketing calls made on behalf of HomeServe by one outsourced supplier, did not meet Ofcom's rules regarding silent, abandoned or repeat calls. HomeServe is reviewing the detailed determination.

HomeServe identified the issue and promptly reported it to Ofcom, following an internal audit of all of HomeServe's telemarketing operations. The problem was identified as having resulted from the incorrect use of Answering Machine Detection (AMD) technology via an outsourcer. HomeServe can confirm that it no longer works with outsourcers on its outbound marketing and that AMD is no longer used in any calls made by the company.

HomeServe can also confirm that all of its dialler systems have been fully compliant with Ofcom regulations since 22 March 2011, following the rectification of the errors identified during HomeServe's audit.

HomeServe is providing goodwill gestures of £10 to customers who received a silent, abandoned or repeat call from the referenced outsourcer over the Relevant Period. Anyone who believes they were subject to these over the Relevant Period should contact the company before 31 May 2012 on 0800 389 5280 and the claim will be investigated.

The above details will not have a material impact on HomeServe's financial results and the Company’s financial guidance remains consistent with the pre-close trading update of 29 March."

That's all very well, maybe.

However, why did Ofcom only fine HomeServe for that period and what about the people (such as myself) who were bombarded with cold calls in 2010?

UPDATE

To HomeServe's credit I have just received a call from them, and have been promised £10 for my poor experience of their cold calls.

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Digital Britain

The government's oft repeated promises of creating a "digital Britain", fit for business in the 21st century, seem to have fallen a little flat if the findings of the report issued by Ofcom are anything to go by.

Over 50% of broadband users in Britain are receiving less than half the speed promised by their providers. At least half of users of services that offer "up to 8 Mbps" receive a typical speed of 3.9Mbps.

The further away a customer lives from the telephone exchange, or if they use the service between 8pm and 10pm, the slower the speed.

Copper wire, instead of cable broadband, also kills the speed of download.

Needless to say, being a British regulator, Ofcom couldn't quite bring itself to accuse the "service providers" of mis-selling their service.

The Advertising Standards Agency is also happy to play "sleepy old watchdog", and claims that marketing which gives an "up to" figure is not misleading.

Doubtless Britain will, one day, have a digital service fit for the 21st century. Unfortunately that day will probably dawn in the 22nd century. Much like the trains, the plans and money allocated to implement "modernisation/service improvement" plans will only ever produce a third rate service.

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The Phone In Rip Off

The poor old consumer has to be ever more vigilant these days, guarding himself/herself against rip offs and unnecessary products/services being foisted upon him/her by unscrupulous and dishonest individuals/companies.

Aside form the myriad of companies pushing loans with excessive interest rates, unnecessary PPI products and "ambulance" chasing lawyers it is now revealed that the phone in competitions run by our "trusted" media organisations are in fact rip offs.

This should come as no surprise to anyone, given the extortionate fees being charged per call and the ludicrous odds of actually being able to get through.

Nevertheless, the British consumer seems to be particularly gullible and has spent a veritable fortune on these scam phone competitions.

Finally they are now being exposed for what they really are. The BBC's Panorama programme broadcast on Monday revealed that viewers have been defrauded of millions of pounds on a phone in operated by GMTV's breakfast show.

Seemingly for the past four years Opera Interactive Technology, a company working for GMTV, had been finalising shortlists of potential winners "long before" lines closed.

GMTV has, not surprisingly suspended all phone-in quizzes, but said it was confident it had not breached regulators' codes.

Opera Interactive Technology have denied any wrongdoing.

Panorama claims that tens of thousands of callers had been charged £1.80 to enter competitions on GMTV, but at least 50% of them had no chance of winning.

The programme estimated that since 2003, callers had wasted £10m a year entering the competitions.

The premium rate phone line watchdog Icstis has formally written to Panorama to request a copy of the programme's evidence, which it would use to decide whether to launch an investigation into the "serious allegations".

Panorama said Ofcom has launched a formal investigation, following a complaint against GMTV and Opera. But Ofcom has not confirmed that it is related to the same issue.

GMTV has now terminated its contract with Opera Interactive Technology.

The lesson to be learned here is simple, don't waste your money on phone in competitions.

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