Three fined for failing to handle complaints
08/10/2014
Mobile phone firm Three has been fined £250,000 by Ofcom for failing to handle customer complaints properly.
Ofcom, the communications regulator in the UK, investigated Three as part of a wider monitoring and enforcement programme, which examines whether communications providers' are dealing with customer complaints appropriately and fairly. The investigation found that Three did not handle complaints in a fair and timely manner, and some complaints were closed before the company could establish that they were fully resolved.
Three would sometimes not log customer complaints when it should have done, so the customers making these complaints were not treated in line with Three’s formal complaints process.
Ofcom said the company had now updated its complaints handling system.
Claudio Pollack, from Ofcom, said:
"When things go wrong, customers are not only entitled to complain to their provider, but must have confidence that their complaint will be dealt with fairly. That's why we impose strict rules on providers on how they must handle complaints.
"We treat any failure to follow these rules very seriously. The fine imposed on Three takes account of the shortcomings in its complaints handling, but reflects that the harm to consumers in this case was limited."
A spokesperson for Three said:
"We have worked closely and openly with Ofcom to address these as part of the broader effort to improve complaint resolution, contacting all the customers that might have been impacted"
The fine will be paid to the Treasury.
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