Sales sector news

People ‘conned’ into switching, says BT

1/10/2009
BT has demanded an end to mis-selling landline deals and wants the telecoms regulator Ofcom to stop rogue operators stealing its customers. The phone company says half a million households each year are duped into signing up with another operator - usually by salespeople claiming to be from BT who trick people into switching.

BT says that the mis-selling, known as 'slamming', could be stopped by each home having a telecom pin code. Switching would only take place if the code had been given by a customer to the new supplier.

Earlier this year Ofcom announced a range of measures to stop the mis-selling of both fixed and mobile phone services, but doubts BT's proposed solution. It points out that a process by which consumers have to contact their existing provider before they switch may limit the benefits of competition which come from an easy switching processes.

The regulator had been receiving more than a thousand complaints a month about slamming, which have been cut to 700 since the new rules were introduced. It said it had taken action against operators including the Post Office, Axis Telecom, Economy Calls, Lo-Rate Telecom and Unicom.
BT's proposals are backed by trading standards officers. "We believe that [a pin code system] will stamp out at source the sort of rogue trading practice that has been plaguing telecoms consumers", said Ron Gainsford, chief executive of the Trading Standards Institute.