BT customers should check their bank accounts as the telecoms giant has issued £18 million in refunds following an Ofcom ruling that it failed to provide adequate contract information to customers.
The regulator imposed a £2.8 million penalty on BT last year after discovering it hadn’t supplied some EE and Plusnet users with “clear and simple” contract details before they agreed to new deals. From June 2022 onwards, telecommunications and broadband providers have been obliged to provide consumers and small enterprises with full contract details, alongside a brief overview of essential terms, prior to sign-up.
These details include the cost and duration of the agreement, service speeds and any charges for early termination. Ofcom launched an inquiry into BT, which operates EE and Plusnet, after receiving information suggesting it might have neglected to supply the required documentation, reports Wales Online.
The investigation revealed that over 1.3 million transactions occurred without customers receiving proper information. A minimum of 1.1 million users were impacted by this breach.
Ofcom determined the communications company had violated consumer safeguarding regulations, mandating BT to reach out to those affected and acknowledge its failure to provide essential information.
Nevertheless, some impacted customers left BT prior to completing their contracts and may have incurred early termination charges, Ofcom noted. In a statement, Ofcom said: “As well as fining BT, we also required it to amend its sales process and refund any affected customers who may have been charged for leaving before the end of their contract period. We told the company that if it was unable to refund any money, it must donate it to charity.”
The statement added: “As a result of this enforcement action, BT has now refunded or credited £18 million back to customers and donated £440,000 across 17 charities where refunds or credits were not possible.”
A BT spokesman said: ‘We’re sorry that pre-contract information and contract summary documents were not available to some of our customers in a timely manner.”
They added: “We have taken steps to proactively contact affected customers and refund them if they had subsequently paid any early termination charges. We take compliance seriously at BT and have worked closely with Ofcom to implement all remedial actions.”
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