A Bournemouth company has been fined £100,000 for making over half a million unsolicited marketing calls to people who had registered with the Telephone Preference Service.
Skean Homes Ltd, which claimed to help improve energy efficiency and reduce household bills, instigated the calls between March and May 2022 which resulted in 31 complaints.
After an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office, Skean Homes refused to take responsibility for the unlawful marketing calls, blaming a technical error and misunderstandings.
It is against the law for organisations to make marketing calls to anyone signed up with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS), which operate a “do not call” register, unless the individual or business has explicitly consented to receive these calls.
Andy Curry, ICO Head of Investigations, said: “People register with the TPS for a clear reason: to stop unwanted marketing contact and protect their privacy. Both these companies have not only broken the law by failing to check the ‘do not call’ register, but also caused distress and disruption to those they bombarded with unwanted and unlawful calls.
“These fines should send a clear message that companies cannot use third parties or multiple phone numbers to avoid detection and taking responsibility for illegal calls. We will take decisive action to ensure the public are protected from nuisance marketing.”
In addition to the fines, the ICO has also issued an Enforcement Notice to both companies, ordering them to stop calling people registered with the TPS, or who had previously objected to such calls.