Public Policy Update - February 2008
9. Huge fines for silent calls in the UK
Companies in the UK that plague consumers with silent calls can be fined by telecom authority Ofcom. Silent calls are where the person called experiences silence on the line when they answer the phone and are usually caused when automatic dialling machines ring potential customers but generate more calls than the call centre staff can deal with. Ofcom increased the maximum fine from £5,000 to £50,000 for each offence in 2006. As this proved to be only partially effective, Ofcom decided last year to extend its monitoring and enforcement programme for another six months and to investigate whether particular users of automated calling systems are complying with its requirements. It has already imposed hefty files and introduced three new rules for the UK industry:
- Abandoned call rates must be below 3% of all calls made in any 24-hour period for each campaign.
- All abandoned calls must carry a short recorded message identifying the source of the call.
- Calling line identification (CLI) must be included on all outbound calls generated by automated calling systems to allow people to dial 1471 and access the telephone number of the person or organisation calling them.
More information
KEEP ME INFORMED |