A Hove-based company has been battered for making nearly 200,000 unlawful marketing calls to people to sell them a call blocking device which – ironically – would have stopped all unlawful marketing calls, including its own.
The Information Commissioner’s Office started investigating Yes Consumer Solutions Limited (YCSL) after receiving 13 complaints from members of the public, who also complained to the Telephone Preference Service.
One complainant said: “This company called my 87 year old father attempting him to sell him a package which blocks calls, ironic I know. He is registered with TPS”; another wrote: “They’ve called 5 to 6 times, twice today. We’ve said that we weren’t interested and not to call but they still do. When my wife said we’d report them they claimed they couldn’t be reported.”
The ICO investigation found that although the firm had the means to check its marketing lists against the TPS, it still contacted a total of 188,493 people without their consent, over a 12-month period between October 2018 and October 2019.
Fining the company £170,000 for a breach of the Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), ICO head of investigations Andy Curry said: “People who register with the TPS do not expect to then receive nuisance calls, particularly not ones selling nuisance call blockers.
“Yes Consumer Solutions Limited should have known that they needed to check their marketing lists against the TPS. They had the means to do so. That is basic good practice.
“We hope this fine shows the importance of reporting nuisance calls, texts and emails to us. Every complaint matters, and we will continue take action to stop nuisance marketers.”
The ICO is on a roll with PECR penalties; it has issued eight fines for non-compliance within the past two months alone, including penalties for American Express, The Conservative Party and Papa John’s.
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