Onestream fined £35,000 after taking over the telephone services of more than a hundred people without their permission.
This is a practice known as ‘slamming’. It is known for being a particularly aggressive form of mis-selling and involves customers being switched from one company to another without their consent or knowledge.
On investigation, Ofcom found three-quarters of those slammed by Onestream were elderly people, or considered vulnerable. In many of the cases, Ofcom found that even when the customers had cancelled Onestream’s order to take over their landline telephone service, the company still made repeated attempts to transfer them across.
For carrying out this process, Ofcom fined Onestream £35,000. The company admitted to its failings and agreed to the fine. Ofcom has also specified that Onestream release those customers affected from their contracts, with immediate effect and without charge. It must also refund those who had already switched and paid early termination fees.
In response, Onestream has written to all customers who switched to it as a result of a telesales call, to let them know they are entitled to exit their contract without being penalised, at any time, regardless of whether they were the subject of this investigation.
The money raised from this fine, will be passed on to HM Treasury. You can find out more about slamming, and how to avoid it, by visiting the Ofcom website.
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