New protection for consumers against mobile mis-selling

Telecoms regulator Ofcom is introducing a new general condition on sales and marketing practices that will apply to all mobile service providers from 16th September.

The strict new rules will govern the sale of mobile phone contracts in a bid to tackle the issue of mobile mis-selling.

Jason Glynn, communications expert at uSwitch.com, comments: "Consumers' experiences of mobile phone mis-selling vary greatly - from being given inaccurate information when signing up to a phone deal, to simply being switched over to a new provider without giving any consent.

"By announcing formal regulatory intervention, Ofcom is at last playing the tough hand on an issue which is not only increasing in size but in importance. The industry witnessed an 18% rise in the number of complaints about mobile service agreements last year, while consumers have seen the availability of 12 month contracts fall sharply in favour of 18 and 24 month tie-ins - a long time to be trapped in an agreement that you are not happy with.

"From tomorrow, Ofcom will be placing the onus on mobile network providers to put the correct sales processes in place to ensure that customers are not mis-sold to by phone retailers. We hope that this will finally draw a line under the issue and that Ofcom will operate a ‘zero-tolerance' policy when it comes to imposing penalties on those breaking the code.

"Our advice to customers is to be very aware of who they are buying from and make sure that they understand the tariff that they are signing up to."