Barclaycard fined by Ofcom

[Amethyst]

June 24, 2008 Barclaycard answers to Ofcom over silent calls

by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclaycard answers to Ofcom over silent calls
Barclaycard could be fined for pestering consumers with so called silent telephone calls.
Telecoms regulator Ofcom has indicated that the UK’s largest credit card company persistently misused an electronic communications network or services through its use of automated calling systems.
The alleged offence dates back to the period between the beginning of October 2006 and early May 2007.
Automated systems are used in call centres and produce silent calls when insufficient staff are in place to deal with the volume of numbers dialled.
Consumers can have their evenings interrupted by telephone calls that appear to have no caller and putting the nuisance element to one side, such calls can be extremely distressing to people who are anxious about their security.
Ofcom has the power to impose a fine of up to £50,000 on firms that exceeds its permitted level of abandoned or silent calls and the regulator fined Abbey £30,000 earlier this year for just such an offence.
Barclaycard has until 21st July to explain itself to Ofcom, which is promising to continue its campaign to reduce silent calling.

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclaycard answers to Ofcom over silent calls

Update note – 23 June 2008
Ofcom has issued a notification to Barclays Bank plc, trading as Barclaycard (“Barclaycard”), under section 128 of the Communications Act 2003 (the “Act”) as part of this ongoing own-initiative investigation. The notification sets out that Ofcom has reasonable grounds for believing that between 1 October 2006 and 10 May 2007, Barclaycard persistently misused an electronic communications network or services by virtue of its use of automated calling systems.
The notification gives Barclaycard until 21 July 2008 to make representations to Ofcom regarding the matters raised in the notification, and to take steps to cease the misuse identified.
After this date Ofcom will consider what further action is appropriate, including whether to impose a financial penalty under section 130 of the Act.
A non-confidential version of the notification is currently being prepared and will be published shortly.
In addition, Ofcom has extended this programme of monitoring and enforcement for a further six months.


Full notice
Notification under section 128 of the Communications Act 2003 regarding persistent misuse of an electronic communications

[TANZARELLI]

Re: Barclaycard answers to Ofcom over silent calls

Capital One have been doing this to me and I am just about to phone them to give them some.

[Birdie]

Re: Barclaycard answers to Ofcom over silent calls

Capital One do it to me all the time despite sending a harassment letter to them - they kindly responded to it saying they will continue to call, it is their right apparently! I'm sending a copy of their little letter to the OFT, think I'll now copy it to OFCOM too!

hlg43

[EXC]

Barclaycard fined for silent calls

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7637419.stm

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclaycard fined for silent calls

Barclaycard answers to Ofcom over silent calls - Legal Beagles


Silent calls fine for Barclaycard


Barclaycard was handed the maximum fine possible

Barclaycard has received the maximum possible fine for the "most serious and persistent" case of silent calls ever seen by regulator Ofcom.
The credit provider was hit with a £50,000 fine after an Ofcom investigation uncovered an extremely high number of silent calls.
Typically, these occur when call centres with automated systems dial more numbers than staff can deal with.
Consumers are left frustrated as they have no idea who the call is from.
When they answer the telephone, and no agent is available to talk to them, it results in silence on the line.
'Repeat calls'
Ofcom investigated Barclaycard from October 2006 to May 2007 and found that people receiving calls had no idea where they were coming from.

We offer a full apology for any inconvenience and distress to our customers that these calls caused


Barclaycard spokesman

Rules on silent calls in 2006 stipulated that abandoned calls must carry a short message identifying where they came from and must account for no more than 3% of all live calls made in the space of 24 hours.
Ofcom declined to say what Barclaycard's silent call rate was, but said the number of silent, abandoned calls made by Barclaycard was "substantially more" than the 16,000 calls for which Abbey National was fined in a previous case.
The regulator also found that some of Barclaycard's call centres had no procedures in place to prevent people receiving repeated abandoned calls over a short period of time.
"Taken as a whole this is the most serious case of persistent misuse by making silent and abandoned calls that Ofcom has ever investigated," said Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.
"Had we not been limited by the statutory maximum, we would have imposed a larger financial penalty to reflect this misuse."
'Sorry'
A Barclaycard spokesman said: "We recognise that all calls, irrespective of the purpose, should be made in the right way and we accept that our processes, in place at the time of the review by Ofcom, were inadequate.
"As a result, we offer a full apology for any inconvenience and distress to our customers that these calls caused.
"We have made robust and lasting changes to our processes, operations and reporting to ensure that we continue to be compliant and to provide the highest levels of service to all our customers."
Ofcom has previously fined Abbey National, Complete Credit Management, Space Kitchens, Bracken Bay Kitchens, Carphone Warehouse and Toucan for breaches of its rules on silent and abandoned calls.

[TANZARELLI]

Barclaycard fined by Ofcom

Barclaycard fined

Ofcom has fined Barclaycard the maximum amount possible (£50,000) for breaching its rules on silent and abandoned calls.

Silent calls are a significant cause of inconvenience and anxiety for thousands of people every month.

Most silent calls are not generated with malicious intent but occur when call centres using automated calling systems generate more calls than their available agents can deal with.

When the person called answers the telephone, there is no agent available, resulting in silence on the line.
Call centres

Ofcom published its rules on silent calls in 2006, which were further revised earlier this month.

They require that abandoned call rates must be no more than 3 per cent of all live calls made in any 24 hour period for each campaign.
All abandoned calls must carry a short recorded information message identifying the source of the call.

Calling line identification (CLI) must be included on all outbound calls generated by automated calling systems.

CLI allows people to dial 1471 and access the telephone number of the person or organisation calling them.
Investigation

Ofcom investigated Barclaycard from 1 October 2006 to 10 May 2007 and found that it had made an extremely high number of silent calls where the people receiving the calls had no method of knowing who had made them.
The investigation also found that some of Barclaycard’s call centres had no procedures in place to prevent people receiving repeated abandoned calls over a short period of time.

Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards said: ‘Taken as a whole this is the most serious case of persistent misuse by making silent and abandoned calls that Ofcom has ever investigated.

‘Had we not been limited by the statutory maximum, we would have imposed a larger financial penalty to reflect this misuse’.

Ofcom has previously fined Abbey National, Complete Credit Management, Space Kitchens, Bracken Bay Kitchens, Carphone Warehouse and Toucan for breaches of its rules on silent and abandoned calls.

Listen to Ofcom Director of Investigations, Neil Buckley, explain more about the case on Radio 5 Live (go to 08:08 for the clip)


http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/Barcfine