Dear tellows fellows,
we are very happy to hear that Ofcom has recently strengthened the consumer protection rules. The changes are made in order to provide more protection against nuisance calls, caller ID spoofing, and other types of telephone frauds. The new rules came into force in the beginning of this month and are reviews of the General Conditions of Entitlement, the main rules that all phone, broadband and mobile providers must follow to operate in the UK. Today, we would like to give you an overview of the changes that Ofcom made in order to protect you better against dubious numbers. Check out the key changes below!
1. Phone companies will be banned from charging customers for caller ID
Some phone providers such as BT and Virgin Media required their consumers extra cost for the use of caller ID services. With this new rule, consumers should be allowed to display the unknown caller’s information with the help of caller display services. Of course, including tellows! Starting now, you don’t have to worry that your provider would charge you for using our features. With the help of tellows Caller ID app, you can automatically display any available information about the unknown number when your phone rings! You can read more about our apps in our blog article about the Android and iPhone apps.
2. Telephone numbers displayed to people receiving calls must be valid and allow a person to call the number back
Which means: no more Caller ID Spoofing! Sometimes you get calls that display invalid numbers which you can’t call back. Although the law made in 2016 has been forcing direct-marketing companies to always display their phone numbers, many companies still neglect this rule. We can still find many reports from our users regarding invalid phone numbers:
Leprechaun reported number 01162190421 with score 9
Had a missed call from this number and when I tried to call back 5 minutes after the missed call, the number was not in use any more
Pigstail reported number 02003363925 as Unkown
Had a call from this number. On answering no one there. No number found on Google. Called back number doesn’t exist?
3. Phone companies must take steps to identify and block calls which carry invalid numbers so they don’t get through to consumers
Service providers should be aware of which numbers are invalid. They shoud also block these numbers to protect their costumers from being harassed or scammed.
4. Ofcom will be able to take back blocks of numbers from communications providers
Furthermore, Ofcom can take back and deactivate numbers if they are found to have been systematically used to cause harm or anxiety to people, such as to make nuisance calls or perpetrate scams or fraud.
In addition to the four rules above, Ofcom has also strengthened the rules regarding complaints handling and the protection of vulnerable customers. Communication providers should be able to handle their customers’ complaints effectively and help them solve the issues. With all the changes, Ofcom aims to decrease the number of telephone scams in UK. Do you think the new rules will be able to solve the problem of nuisance calls in the future? Leave a comment below!
Your tellows team
