Member Article

£36,000 fine for a company making telesales calls to companies registered with the telephone protection service

Ofcom has warned of increased risks of fines to businesses that make unwanted sales and marketing calls after a company was fined £36,000 after to failing to follow regulations that were brought in to protect the consumer.

Apple Group Holdings found themselves issued with the whopping fine from Dorset Counsel Trading Standards Service, after people already registered with TPS complained that the company were causing a ‘persistent nuisance’.

Research carried out in September 2013 highlighted that 8 out of 10 people had received unsolicited calls to their landlines just the month before, with people stating these calls as an annoying interruption to their daily lives.

Whilst no reputable business wants to annoy or offend potential customers, it is a worrying time for companies who rely on cold calling for a big part of their business needs as these sort of fines can send the smaller ones to the wall.

Businesses using telesales have been “getting away with it” for years, whilst they have known they shouldn’t call any numbers registered on the Telephone Preference Service list (TPS) they have still been doing so as it wasn’t regulated as tightly then but as is the case with Apple Holdings, breaching regulations can land you with a massive fine nowadays if you are not adhering to the rules.

The problem it would seem is that information regarding these regulations changes all the time, and some businesses are simply unaware or misinformed about it all which can lead to complaints being made against these companies.

If you are using telephone sales within your business, no matter how small and you want to be sure you understand the rules we would be happy to explain and help you be sure you are protecting yourself against any possible fines. Please simply contact us on 0800 50 533 50 to discuss or complete and enquiry form here and we’ll get back to you.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ian Hilton .