May 22, 2017

A double-glazing company has been fined £50,000 for making nuisance calls to people who had specifically stated that they did not want to be contacted.

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) received 160 complaints about Brighter Home Solutions Ltd, based in Harlow, Essex, between January and August 2016.  The ICO also received a further 27 complaints directly.

The ICO reminds readers that people registered with the TPS should not receive unsolicited marketing calls unless they have consented to do so by opting in to accept certain communications from specific named companies.

Brighter Home Solutions said it had purchased lists of numbers from third party suppliers and that these providers had assured them that the data was “opted in”.  However, the company had not carried out any due diligence checks to ensure that the householders had given their consent to receive such calls.

The company told the ICO it had made around 450,000 calls from January to May 2016 without carrying out due diligence checks.

Some people also complained that the calls were misleading because they gave the impression the company was dialling from a number local to them.  Others were also misled into believing that they may have been contacted by Brighter Home Solutions previously and had agreed at that time to receive further calls in the future.

As well as the £50,000 fine, the company was served with an enforcement notice ordering it to improve its procedures.  Failure to comply could result in court action, the ICO says.  To read the ICO’s press release in full and for a link to the monetary penalty notice, click here.