This practice – known as ‘slamming’ – is a particularly aggressive form of mis-selling. It involves customers being switched from one company to another without their consent or knowledge.
Our investigation found that three quarters of people slammed by Onestream were elderly or vulnerable. We also discovered that, in many cases, even when customers cancelled Onestream’s order to take over their landline telephone service, the company made repeated attempts to transfer them across regardless.
Ofcom has therefore imposed a penalty of £35,000 on Onestream, which has admitted its failings and agreed to settle the case. Ofcom has also required Onestream to release affected customers from their contracts without charge, and refund those who had already switched away and paid early termination fees.
Onestream has also written to all customers who switched to it as a result of a telesales call, to inform them of their right to exit their contract without penalty, at any time, regardless of whether they were the subject of this investigation.
The money raised from this fine, which must be paid to Ofcom within 20 working days, will be passed on to HM Treasury. More information on our ruling is available.