Barclaycard to face Ofcom fine over silent calls
June 27, 2008
The largest credit card company in Britain, Barclaycard could be facing a fine from Ofcom for making silent calls to people’s homes.
Such silent calls occur when automated systems are used in call centres and dial more numbers than staff can handle. The system then abandons the phone call if there isn’t an operative available, leaving the householder who has answered the phone with nothing but silence on the other end of the phone. Elderly people and those who fear being stalked may feel intimidated by such calls. Other people have been worried that the phone calls are burglars who are trying to find out whether a property is occupied.
The companies behind these calls are mainly to do with telephone marketing, market research, financial services; including debt recovery and also “number scanning” which is where phone numbers are rang to see if they are working and then to be possibly sold on.
Ofcom has the power to fine companies £50,000. Abbey was fined £30,000 for going over the number of abandoned calls permitted and Carphone Warehouse was given a £35,000 fine in January 2007. Phone company Toucan also received a £32,000 fine.
Ofcom has said it had “reasonable grounds for believing that between October 1 2006 and May 10 2007, Barclaycard persistently misused an electronic communications network or services by virtue of its use of automated calling systems.”
Barclaycard have now got until July 21 to respond to the complaint and then the telecoms regulator will decide what action to take and if imposing a fine is reasonable. It is thought that the automated calls may be connected to debt collection rather than telephone marketing.
A campaigner who has spoken out against this issue for the past five years, David Hickson has said that while Ofcom hasn’t released details of Barclaycards actions, “people in debt is a particular issue. People who are in debt need help. They don’t need to be harassed and worried.”
Barclaycard said in a statement “This relates to an historic issue which we decided to address independently of the Ofcom investigation and has now been resolved. We have been co-operating fully with Ofcom on this matter. As it is the subject of legal proceedings we are unable to make any further comment at this time.”
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