News
24th March 09
3/24/2009
Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, Tom Elliott MLA has welcomed the announcement by Ofcom of new rules that comes into force in September 2009 which prohibits misleading phone sales practices and the switching of customers to an
New phone rules will clean up industry
Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, Tom Elliott MLA has welcomed the announcement by Ofcom of new rules that comes into force in September 2009 which prohibits misleading phone sales practices and the switching of customers to another service without their consent.
Tom said: "This has been a source of complaint over recent years and the voluntary code of conduct failed to reduce complaints that were running at more than 1,000 complaints per month. In the current harsh economic times, there are many phone companies competing to offer telephone services to customers and many are genuine but some companies have been attempting to gain customers through dishonest activities such as mis-selling. There are various forms of this behaviour, one of which is known as "slamming" which is where customers are switched from one company to another without their knowledge or consent.
If mobile phone operators breach the rules they could be fined up to 10% of relevant turnover, which should help clean up the industry and offer customers more protection. The new proposals require companies to keep better records relating to sales and also require companies to give consumers better information about switching providers.
In the meantime, I would advise customers to be wary of giving out personal details over the phone, don’t give out bank details and do not sign anything unless you have read all the details and are certain and clear, to what you are signing up for. If you have a problem register your complaint with Ofcom and they will take action against companies which are involved in "slamming".
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