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True Telecom busted by Ofcom for 'slamming', misselling and more

Must cough £300k soon after £87k ICO slapdown

Ofcom handed down a £300,000 fine to business phone and broadband company True Telecom after concluding a year-long investigation yesterday.

The watchdog decided that True Telecom broke four of its rules repeatedly in the period between 8 October 2015 and 26 October 2016.

The Dartford-based company engaged in 24 counts of "slamming" (which refers to taking control of a phone owner's account without permission). The probe also revealed 86 counts of ignoring transfer cancellations, 35 counts of entering customers into contracts longer than the permitted maximum of 24 months, and 21 counts of failing to keep customers' proof of consent for at least one year.

As well as the £300k fine, True Telecom must reimburse the cancellation and other fees paid by affected customers, and inform its remaining customers that they are permitted to cancel their contracts without penalties.

True Telecom is also required to retrain its front-line service staff and to "make all necessary changes" to its policies and procedures.

The company went into administration earlier this month, but despite considerable job cuts, its services are still running for customers, and it is still liable to pay the penalties set by Ofcom.

The company was also fined £85,000 by the ICO in August of this year for nuisance calling as well as misleading customers that its representatives were from Openreach. ®

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