"HomeServe confirms that it has been notified that Ofcom has imposed a fine of £750,000 pursuant to section 130 of the Communications Act 2003 in relation to Ofcom's finding, that between 1 February 2011 and 21 March 2011 ('the Relevant Period') a number of outbound marketing calls made on behalf of HomeServe by one outsourced supplier, did not meet Ofcom's rules regarding silent, abandoned or repeat calls. HomeServe is reviewing the detailed determination.That's all very well, maybe.
HomeServe identified the issue and promptly reported it to Ofcom, following an internal audit of all of HomeServe's telemarketing operations. The problem was identified as having resulted from the incorrect use of Answering Machine Detection (AMD) technology via an outsourcer. HomeServe can confirm that it no longer works with outsourcers on its outbound marketing and that AMD is no longer used in any calls made by the company.
HomeServe can also confirm that all of its dialler systems have been fully compliant with Ofcom regulations since 22 March 2011, following the rectification of the errors identified during HomeServe's audit.
HomeServe is providing goodwill gestures of £10 to customers who received a silent, abandoned or repeat call from the referenced outsourcer over the Relevant Period. Anyone who believes they were subject to these over the Relevant Period should contact the company before 31 May 2012 on 0800 389 5280 and the claim will be investigated.
The above details will not have a material impact on HomeServe's financial results and the Company’s financial guidance remains consistent with the pre-close trading update of 29 March."
However, why did Ofcom only fine HomeServe for that period and what about the people (such as myself) who were bombarded with cold calls in 2010?
UPDATE
To HomeServe's credit I have just received a call from them, and have been promised £10 for my poor experience of their cold calls.
