Ofcom looks to stamp out mobile mis-selling in UK
18 March 2008
Ofcom looks to stamp out mobile mis-selling in UK
UK communications regulator Ofcom has issued proposals for a new set of regulations designed to stop what it identifies as the misleading sales and marketing tactics sometimes employed by the market's mobile operators and service providers.
Consumer complaints about such tactics have been filed at an average of 700 a month to January of this year, up from 460 a month in July 2007, when at Ofcom's bidding, the five UK network operators - 3UK, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone - signed up to a voluntary code of conduct for best practice in sales and marketing.
Ofcom warned the carriers last summer that if they didn't improve their performance in the area, it would introduce mandatory rules to combat the problem.
Ofcom is principally concerned with two particular activities. The first sees customers given "false or inaccurate information" at the point of signing up to a mobile contract, while the second is the failure in some instances of operators and retail agents to make good on cash-back incentives.
The Ofcom Advisory Team logged a variety of complaints from users. Some had been tied into 18-month contracts after having been led to believe they were buying a 12-month subscription. Others were misled on a range of issues, including regional coverage, handset functionality and number portability. Still others found that the means by which cashback was to be claimed were convoluted and, in some cases, simply beyond the customer.
Ofcom declined to reveal which among the UK carriers and retailers were the worst offenders, saying: "Some mobile service providers generate more complaints than others regarding mis-selling and cashback but we have identified this as an industry wide issue."
While only the five network operators pledged to abide by the code of conduct last July, complaints have been received about high street retailers and MVNOs as well, according to Ofcom. But does the fact that complaints have risen since the code of conduct was established prove that voluntary commitments are ineffective?
"In respect of cashback we expected complaints not to go down in the short term, because of the lag effect (retailers going out of business because of the new code)," said an Ofcom spokesperson. "In respect of general mis-selling, we did expect [complaints] to go down. We still think the provisions in the voluntary code are broadly the right ones, but that the MNOs have implemented the code in different ways, and that there may not always be a sufficient incentive to comply with or police the code. That, of course, will change when we are able to enforce the rules."
To comment on any articles, please contact us at chatback@telecoms.com or have your say on our blog.
Bookmark this page
