Plusnet fined 880,000 for billing former customers

Plusnet fined £880,000 for billing former customers 22 March 2017

Telecoms provider charged for landline and broadband services after customers had cancelled

More than 1,000 ex-customers were overcharged by more than £500,000 in total

Plusnet, a BT owned company, has today been fined £880,000 by Ofcom for continuing to bill more than a thousand ex-customers.

The penalty is the result of an investigation, which found that the telecoms company broke a fundamental billing rule by continuing to charge a group of customers for landline or broadband, after they had cancelled their service.1

Once a customer cancels his or her home phone or broadband service, providers' billing systems must recognise that the line is ceased'. In this case, an error in Plusnet's billing system meant that cancelled lines were still recognised as live'.

As a result, 1,025 customers who had cancelled either their landline or broadband service continued to be billed, meaning they were overcharged by more than £500,000 in total.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom's Consumer Group Director, said: There can be no margin for error, and no excuses, when it comes to billing customers correctly.

This fine should serve as a reminder to telecoms companies that they must adhere to Ofcom's billing rules at all times, or face the consequences.

Financial penalty and customer refundsPlusnet has made repeated attempts to refund all affected ex-customers by letter and by phone. It has refunded 356 customers a total of £212,140, which included interest at a rate of 4% for each customer.

Plusnet has donated the remaining funds to a dozen local charities, in lieu of payments owed to customers whom it could not contact. Plusnet has also made clear to Ofcom the steps it has taken to prevent any future billing errors of this kind.

As a result of Plusnet's failings, Ofcom has today imposed a penalty of £880,000. The fine, which must be paid to Ofcom within 20 working days, will be passed on to HM Treasury.

The penalty incorporates a 20% reduction to reflect Plusnet's willingness to enter into a formal settlement, which will save public money and resources. As part of this settlement, Plusnet admits and takes full responsibility for the breach of Ofcom's billing rule.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Ofcom opened an investigation into Plusnet on 27 May 2016. Evidence gathered during the course of this investigation showed that Plusnet breached one of Ofcom's most important billing rules General Condition 11.1 PDF, 449.4 KB , which is designed to ensure customers are charged correctly for the services they receive. Plusnet discovered its billing error, whilst undertaking a routine asset reconciliation exercise of its customer base and identified a customer as having a chargeable account but with no active telephone of broadband service. Further investigation by Plusnet showed this was not a isolated to one account. The matter was subsequently brought to Ofcom's attention. The penalty imposed relates to an infringement from 26 May 2011 to 3 September 2015.

LINK:	https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2017/...
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