'Predatory' telecoms sales reps pressured ill woman into changing phone contract

30 November 2023 , 09:49

823     0

Worried woman checking phone. Picture posed by model

There’s probably no good time to be bombarded with sales calls from a telecoms firm, but for one O2 customer they came at a particularly bad time.

Karen - I’m withholding her surname - was acutely ill with depression and psychosis after giving birth when the calls began.

At first she thought the caller was from O2 offering a better deal and the calls persisted even after she explained that the contract was in her father's name.

She hung up during one call only to be immediately phoned back, and the sales pitch continued, rushing Karen through a 40-page new contract.

Confused, she stopped answering calls, only to be emailed, at which point it became clear that she had been dealing with a company called Converged Solutions UK, which acts as a sales company for telecoms firm Plan.com, registered in the Isle of Man.

Martin Lewis issues 8-week warning to phone users ahead of huge price hikes

Her new Plan.com contract was a business one and the first invoice was for £124.04, compared to the £35.48 that she had previously paid O2 each month. Then O2 sent a termination bill for £209.50, threatening debt collectors and further charges if it wasn't paid.

Karen’s sister Emma complained to the companies on her behalf, telling them: “It was extremely inappropriate, manipulative and predatory to pressure Karen into a contract that she does not need."

She also threatened to bring the matter to the attention of the media, which might have helped because O2 now says that it is refunding the termination charge "as a gesture of goodwill".

O2 said: “We're trying to contact the customer to see how best we can support them.”

Plan.com told me that “our customers' satisfaction is our top priority, and we take every complaint seriously”, adding that the deal “was facilitated through a third-party reseller”.

That will be Converged Solutions UK, run by sole director Tarundeep Chaddah, 47, of Eastleigh, Hampshire.

He has not replied to me to answer allegations of pressurising a sick woman into signing a worse contract, or to explain how his company got Karen’s number in the first place.

Andrew Penman