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A leaking copper pipe
HomeServe offers cover for emergency plumber and tradespeople call outs. Photograph: Alamy
HomeServe offers cover for emergency plumber and tradespeople call outs. Photograph: Alamy

HomeServe fined £750,000 over silent calls

This article is more than 11 years old
Insurance and repairs firm HomeServe made an estimated 14,756 abandoned calls in a seven-week period, Ofcom says

Home insurance and repairs company HomeServe has been fined £750,000 by the telecoms regulator for making an excessive number of silent and abandoned calls.

Ofcom opened an investigation into the West Midlands-based HomeServe in 2011 as part of its monitoring and enforcement programme aimed at reducing harm caused to consumers by silent or abandoned calls.

Silent calls have become an increasing cause of nuisance and alarm, particularly for older people. They occur when automatic dialler systems used by call centres make more calls than they have people to take them. If there is no one available to take an answered call it is automatically dropped; the consumer will hear nothing before being cut off.

Under Ofcom's rules the number of abandoned calls companies make to consumers each day is not allowed to exceed 3% of the total live calls made on that day.

Ofcom's investigation into HomeServe found that the company exceeded this abandoned call rate on 42 separate occasions during the period 1 February-21 March 2011. This resulted in an estimated 14,756 abandoned calls made to consumers.

Ofcom also prohibits companies from making repeat calls to numbers where a call has been picked up by an answering machine. Ofcom found that HomeServe made an estimated 36,218 calls in breach of this rule too.

HomeServe, which offers customers gas boiler and other home emergency insurance cover, admitted it had breached these rules, and has set up a dedicated helpline for consumers seeking compensation if they have been affected by its silent or abandoned calls.

People who believe they have been affected should contact HomeServe before 31 May 2012 on 0800 389 5280 and the claim will be investigated. The company will offer £10 to affected claimants where their telephone number matches its records.

HomeServe, which has more than 3 million customers who pay to cover emergency call-outs from plumbers and other tradespeople, said it no longer worked with the calls company concerned.

Ofcom's consumer group director, Claudio Pollack, said: "Our rules are there to prevent consumers suffering annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety from silent or abandoned calls.

"We hope today's fine will send a strong message to all companies that use call centres that they need to ensure they are fully compliant with the rules or face the consequences."

Pollack said that in reaching its decision, Ofcom took account of a number of factors including the steps taken by HomeServe to bring itself into compliance with the rules on silent and abandoned calls, and its offer to compensate affected consumers as a result of its breach of the rules.

HomeServe's fine is payable to Ofcom and passed on to the Treasury, and it is required to pay within 30 days of receiving the penalty notification.

In a statement Homeserve said: "HomeServe identified the issue and promptly reported it to Ofcom following an internal audit of all of its telemarketing operations. The problem was identified as having resulted from the incorrect use of answering machine detection (AMD) technology via an outsourcer. HomeServe can confirm it no longer works with outsourcers on its outbound marketing and that AMD is no longer used in any calls made by the company.

"HomeServe can also confirm all of its dialler systems have been fully compliant with Ofcom regulations since 22 March 2011, following the rectification of the errors identified during the audit."

The fine is the latest bad news for a company that has had more than its fair share of regulatory problems.

In October 2011 it suspended sales teams amid fears of product mis-selling. It also faced compensation claims from thousands of customers it let down in 2010's cold snap after a whistleblower told the Financial Services Authority it had ignored their complaints.

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