Rogue f irm is f ined £80k for blitz of 135,000 nuisance calls

A SCOTS property repair company has been hit with a huge fine for pestering people with nuisance calls.

Glasgow-based Xternal Property Renovations has been ordered to pay a penalty of £80,000 – one of the largest such fines ever handed out in Scotland.

The firm was found to have bombarded households more than 135,000 times in three months in 2015 in an attempt to sell services. In total, there were 131 official complaints registered about unsolicited direct marketing calls being made by the company.

Those who were targeted by Xternal Property Renovations said they had been left ‘upset’ and ‘worried’ about the calls. One householder said: ‘I get these calls from early morning to late at night. I’m disabled and I worry about these calls.’

Another complainant said: ‘I’m absolutely weary and upset by these calls.’

The majority of the phone calls – more than 109,000 – were to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which is supposed to ensure their numbers are not targeted by unsolicited marketers.

One person, who had joined the TPS to stop cold calls, said: ‘I was concerned about how this company had obtained my details – particularly my name. My number is TPS-registered and has been ex-directory for more than 30 years.’

The director of the business, according to Companies House, is 27-year-old Scottish-born Jonathon DeSousa. It is understood Mr DeSousa currently lives in England. The fine was imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and is expected to be paid by the end of April.

Ken Macdonald, Head of ICO Regions, said: ’Nuisance marketing, whether it’s by calls to people’s landline or mobile, or through spam texts, causes disruption, annoyance and, in the

‘Action can be taken’

worst cases, serious upset. We issue fines like these to firms behind nuisance marketing to send a clear message that such action will not be tolerated.’

Following a separate investigation, the ICO also fined PRS Media, trading as Purus Digital, £140,000 for sending around 4.4million spam texts.

The company, based in Haverfordwest, Wales, said that the information used to send the text messages had been obtained from its own competition website.

People were required to sign up to marketing as a condition of entering competitions. The terms stated that contact details would be would be shared with third parties.

However, the law says that is not specific enough and people must give consent to receive marketing text messages.

The ICO’s investigations into both firms were prompted by complaints from members of the public.

Last year, Glasgow-based Omega Marketing Services was hit with a £60,000 fine after bombarding householders with 1.6million calls.

And 2015, Cambuslang-based Home Energy and Lifestyle Management (HELMS) was handed a record £200,000 fine for making more than six million nuisance calls about ‘free’ solar panels over a period of less than three months.

Dom O’Hagan, spokesman for Citizens Advice Scotland, said: ‘People who have signed up to a service like TPS should not be receiving cold calls from legitimate UK-based companies.

‘It’s important that consumers have faith in these kind of services, and anyone who believes they are being flouted should report the offender so that action can be taken.’