'Freak reduction' sees PECR moans drop by three-fifths

The number of so-called nuisance calls and texts reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office under the Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) dropped by 57% in 2022, although companies in industries such as banking, insurance and energy have been warned not to rest on their laurels.

The figures have been revealed following a Freedom of Information request from technology company Quadient, which shows the ICO received 56,015 complaints about nuisance calls and texts in 2022, less than half the 131,491 received in 2021 and fewer than in any year since 2019.

Overall, there were 32,317 complaints about live calls (down 35%), 13,790 about automated calls (down 74%) and 9,908 relating to SMS text messages (down 57%).

Quadient is at a loss to explain why there has been such a “freak reduction” and UK CXM director Andrew Oldham said: “It might seem fantastic to see the number of complaints more than halve, especially regarding often intrusive and impersonal automated calls – however we cannot know for sure until we know the reason for it.”

There were 4,373 complaints related to banking, almost half (47%) the number made in 2021 (8,202). However, this figure is still higher than the 4,183 reported in 2019, suggesting 2022 represents a return to the norm rather than progress, and that there are still improvements to be made.

Despite the number of overall complaints about automated calls dropping significantly, the 2,904 reported in banking dwarfed the numbers on live calls or texts. Quadient suggests banks should consider whether the cost savings of switching away from using live agents are instead creating a negative impact on customer relationships.

The number of complaints relating to insurance (3,187) was down by less than other key industries, dropping 13% from 2021’s 3,851. The vast majority of complaints – 2,875 – were related to live calls, suggesting that this is still insurers’ preferred method of communicating with customers.

There were 1,313 complaints relating to energy supply, down more than half from the 2,602 reported in 2021 and almost two thirds (64%) compared to 2019, suggesting 2022 was a highly unusual year. This time, most complaints (883) were about live calls, suggesting suppliers could identify scenarios where alternative channels are more appropriate.

Most nuisance calls were reported in the beginning of the year, with the highest numbers in January, February, March and April before a second peak in November. This suggests that whether they are from legitimate companies or otherwise, telemarketers are following a distinct pattern of behaviour.

There were also signs that some calls were almost certainly spam. For instance, there were 892 complaints about calls related to Covid-19, and 262 related to PPI, even though the PPI deadline passed in 2019.

Complaints around pensions fell by the largest proportion, dropping 67% to 113. Conversely, gambling nuisance calls bucked the trend – complaints increased by 28% year-on-year. And, finally, consumers are similarly irritated by nuisance calls around adult content (225), call blockers (219) and payday loans (258).

Oldham concluded: “This may be a new era in business-consumer relations, it could be a one-off due to external factors, or it may even be because consumers are so disheartened with nuisance calls that they have given up complaining. Regardless of the reason, organisations cannot rest on their laurels. They need to remain firmly focused on their customers and follow best practices to ensure the numbers don’t shoot back up.”