Two device repair companies hit with hefty fines over thousands of spam calls, including to the elderly

Two home appliance repair companies have been fined a total of £120,000 for making spam phone calls.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined them for making unlawful marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

WerepairUK Ltd, based in Tonbridge, was fined £80,000 by the ICO for making 42,688 unwanted calls. She filed an appeal against this decision.

Service Box Group Limited, based in Hove, East Sussex, was fined £40,000 for 5,361 calls.

These calls were made to people who had expressly opted out of receiving marketing messages, thereby violating their privacy and causing some anxiety.

The ICO said there was evidence that in both cases the attacks targeted older people and people with conditions such as dementia.

Some people were repeatedly called trying to pressure them into purchasing a warranty for home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines.

Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said: “We have taken strong action against WerepairUK Ltd and Service Box Group Limited; two companies that have caused significant distress by targeting people at higher risk of harm. Such predatory marketing practices are illegal and deeply exploitative.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting the public, especially those who may be unable to defend themselves against such tactics.”

One such example is mother Juliet Tibbels, who was regularly called by companies even though she was registered with TPS. Her mother, now 90, suffers from dementia and was living independently at her home near Poole, Dorset, at the time of the call.

Many companies selling services, such as warranties for home appliances and alarm pendants, contacted her by phone.

WerepairUK Ltd sold her a home appliances warranty and a boiler policy. The company did not provide the ICO investigation with any evidence that it had consented to receiving marketing calls from it.

Mrs Tibbels said: “My mother has dementia but at the time she was living independently. Every day different companies tried to sell it.

“Even though I left notes around the house telling me not to give out my bank details, she still said yes to the callers because she was confused and felt that if she said yes, she would be able to end the call quicker. She didn't need this policy at all.

The ICO calls on the public to:

• Be on the lookout for fraudulent direct debits made for unknown reasons and make sure they haven't signed up for services they may not be aware of
• Make sure they are registered with TPS, which provides a free and easy way to opt out of unwanted marketing calls
• If you still receive unwanted marketing calls despite being registered, you should report these incidents to the ICO immediately

What companies say

Service Box director James Kedian said: “The fine imposed on the ICO resulted from the actions of a small number of external suppliers to whom Service Box outsourced some of its sales and marketing activities.

“Each of these third parties has undergone extensive due diligence by Service Box prior to entering into the contract and, among other things, has provided written assurances to Service Box that it will not call telephone numbers registered with TPS unless the individual has expressly consented to receiving marketing calls.

“Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Service Box, a small number of providers have breached these assurances by making calls to numbers registered with TPS without valid consent.

“Service Box acknowledges that because these external partners were making telephone calls on behalf of the company, Service Box is liable under PECR for the non-compliance of these third parties.

“Upon becoming aware of these issues, Service Box immediately terminated its relationships with the relevant third parties and made various improvements to its outsourcing procedures, including increasing our due diligence and oversight of data providers and implementing more stringent compliance measures and continuous monitoring

“Service Box has engaged with the ICO throughout its investigation, including making all relevant data and staff available to the ICO upon request.

“While Service Box accepts the ICO's findings and has chosen not to appeal its decision to pursue this matter, we are disappointed that a significant number of the mitigating factors raised in our written submissions to the ICO, which have been recognized by the ICO in similar cases, have not been recognized nor taken into account by the ICO in its decision.”

WeRepair UK has been contacted for comment.

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