Rollover contract ban 'expands consumer rights'

Communications watchdog Ofcom has announced that it is banning rollover contracts for landline and broadband customers, strengthening consumer rights and the ability for customers to exit contracts without needing to find a solicitor.
 
From December, companies in this sector will not be able to tie customers who fail to opt-out into repeated minimum contract periods.
 
Ofcom stated that the ban on Automatically Renewable Contracts (ARC) would apply to residential and small business customers and affect companies such as BT.
 
Ed Richards, chief executive of the watchdog, warned that these forms of lock-in mechanisms are concerning.
 
He said: "Ofcom's evidence shows that ARCs raise barriers to effective competition by locking customers into long term deals with little additional benefit."
 
Campaign group Consumer Focus has welcomed this expansion of consumer rights and the fact that there will be a legal recourse to exit these contracts.
 
The organisation's director of external affairs Adam Scorer said that many people had unknowingly been rolled over into another binding contract under the old system.

Published by Tessa Jones