TIO Annual Report 2004/05

Case Studies

Customer transfer

The complaint:

The complainant ran a small business and was contacted by a telephone sales representative of the member on a Saturday afternoon. He was busy serving customers when the representative rang. The complainant said that the representative offered cheaper call rates if he transferred his long-distance service to the member.
The complainant claims that he asked for written information, but did not agree to transfer his service. He subsequently began receiving bills, which he ignored, from the member. As a result his service was disconnected and his account referred to a credit management agency. He then contacted the TIO.

TIO response:

The TIO wrote to the member asking it to support its position that the complainant had given oral authorisation to transfer his service. The TIO also asked for any evidence from the complainant to support his position that he did not give his informed consent to the transfer.

The outcome:

The complainant supplied written evidence, which included a letter from his GP, that he had recently suffered a medical condition that had affected his long-term memory. He informed the TIO that his condition now required him to withdraw from the operational side of the business. He conceded that he might have asked for his service to be transferred but because of his medical condition, without realising he had done so. Under the Customer Transfer Code, providers are asked to ensure that they gain informed consent before transferring a person’s services.

The member supplied a voice recording of its conversation with the complainant. In the TIO’s opinion, the complainant had given his consent. However, after the member was informed of the complainant’s medical condition, it waived outstanding calls charges, withdrew all debt recovery processes, and deleted the complainant’s phone numbers from its marketing databases.

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