The watchdog has fined BT £2.8m by the watchdog after it failed to provide more than a million customers with clear and simple contract information
Over one million BT customers are being handed thousands in compensation after contract failures. Ofcom has announced today the telecoms giant has refunded or credited a staggering £18million in total to customers – following watchdog “enforcement”. BT has been forced to cough up millions to at least 1.1 million customers after it was found to have let them down over contracts.
Ofcom charged BT with a £2.8m fine after it failed to provide more than a million customers with clear and straightforward contract information before they signed up to new deals. The firm breached our consumer protection rules designed to ensure telecoms customers receive clear, comparable information about the services they are considering purchasing.
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BT shelled out £18million to customers as a consequence, reports Birmingham Live. Ofcom said at the time: “Our rules are clear that if the required contract summary and contract information is not given, the contract is not binding on customers.
“As a result, an early exit fee should not have been payable by these customers. In some cases, BT deliberately chose not to comply with the rules on time. Other providers dedicated the resource required to meet the implementation deadline for these new rules, and BT is likely to have saved costs by not doing so.”
Ofcom said in an update on July 29: “As well as fining BT, we also required it to amend its sales process and refund any affected customers who may have been charged for leaving before the end of their contract period. We told the company that if it was unable to refund any money, it must donate it to charity”.
“As a result of this enforcement action, BT has now refunded or credited £18 million back to customers and donated £440,000 across 17 charities where refunds or credits were not possible.”
BT reached out to the vast majority of impacted customers, clarifying that it had failed to supply them with the information they were entitled to receive, and offering them the chance to request the details and/or terminate their contract free of charge, Ofcom has confirmed.
Some customers hit by the violation departed BT before their contract expired and may have faced an early termination penalty. BT ranks among the nation’s largest broadband suppliers and faces competition from the likes of Sky, TalkTalk and others.
Ofcom regulations state clearly that if the mandatory contract summary and contract details are not provided, the agreement is not legally binding on customers.
Consequently, an early exit charge should not have been levied on these customers, the watchdog has confirmed.