Ofcom to crack down on annoying sales calls

Ofcom has pledged to crack down on annoying sales calls, warning a “big six” utility and a home maintenance business that they face fines of up to £2m ($3.2m).

The communications watchdog said it had evidence that Npower – the UK subsidiary of RWE, the German energy group – and FTSE 250-listed Homeserve had breached the rules by bombarding households with cold calls.

Ofcom said the two companies had been making an “excessive number” of so-called abandoned calls, which households receive as a result of automated dialling technology used in call centres.

Such systems usually connect the person answering the phone to call centre staff, but sometimes the systems make more calls than the agents can answer and play a recorded message instead.

Ofcom has said such calls “can be frightening and cause undue worry and distress” for those that receive them, and has told both companies that it believes they “persistently misused an electronic communications network’’.

Npower is also accused of playing recorded marketing – as opposed to “information” – messages. But the company said its “prompt to make energy savings” was “fully consistent with energy policy and does not constitute marketing”.

Npower and Homeserve have been given until August 10 to respond to the allegations “and to take steps to cease the misuse identified’’, or they could be fined.

Gillian Cooper of Consumer Focus said: “We don’t agree with Npower’s defence. Unsolicited calls, even if they include an energy efficiency message, are still marketing.”

Npower and Homeserve “must reconsider these sales tactics given the negative impact they have on consumers”, she added.

Homeserve blamed the problem on an outsourced provider, which it declined to name. It said an internal audit process had uncovered the problem, which was remedied upon discovery.

In December, Homeserve said it was investigating a marketing company that had left daily recorded messages on its behalf on the answering machines of Thames Water customers for more than two weeks. The calls sought to sell them extended insurance for burst water pipes.