Don’t pay extra for ‘nuisance call’ info

You’ll no longer be charged to see who is calling your landline under new Ofcom rules to boost the rights of consumers.

Currently, companies can charge extra for ‘caller display’, which helps people le avoid nuisance calls. This willillil be banned, though not untill October 2018, when the regulations kick in.

Companies will also be required to block calls from numbers that can’t be dialled or are invalid – both are signs of a nuisance call.

One of Ofcom’s other aims is to extend to broadband customers some of the rights that already exist for landline customers. For example, broadband providers will have to offer disabled customers priority fault repair, which means they are dealt with quicker, and allow their bills to be managed by another person.

Vulnerable customers will be better protected under new rules that force companies to identify people “with learning or communication difficulties or those suffering physical or mental illness or bere bereavement”.reav Ofcom says firm firmsrms mumust follow “clear, effect effectivectiv policies and proc procedures”oced to make sure these cu cust customers are treated fairly.

It also wants companies to “strengthen” how it ha hand handles complaints, and give ve fasfaster access to services that at can resolve a dispute if it bbecbecomes deadlocked. Companies breaching the rules face a fine of 10 per cent of their turnover.

Ofcom said: “We have clarified and simplified many of our rules, making them easier for providers to understand. We have also made the regulations simpler by removing rules that are no longer in use”. Read its new rules at www.snipca. com/25650.