The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined West Wales home improvement firm Home2Sense £200,000 for making more than half a million unsolicited marketing calls.
The Lampeter-based company made 675,478 nuisance calls between June 2020 and March 2021, offering insulation services to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Home2Sense told ICO investigators that customer data was acquired from an “unknown source” and blamed its staff for not screening the phone numbers in their database against the TPS.
It is against the law to make marketing calls to phone numbers that have been registered with the TPS for more than 28 days, unless the recipient has notified the company that they do not object to receiving such calls.
Following more than 60 complaints from the public, the ICO’s investigation found that the company illegally identified itself with different trading names when calling customers, including ‘Cozy Loft’, ‘Warmer Homes’ and ‘Comfier Homes’.
One of the complainants said that Home2Sense repeatedly made phone calls asking to speak to a family member’s deceased relative.
In addition to the £200,000, the ICO has also issued the company with an enforcement notice ordering them to stop making unsolicited marketing calls.
Efforts were made to contact the company for which the bid to have it struck-off under the Companies Act was suspended in December.
Ken Macdonald, head of regions, said: “Home2Sense’s dismissive attitude, coupled with its attempts to deflect responsibility for compliance with the law onto its staff, shows a complete disregard for people’s privacy rights.
“Some of the complainants described the calls received as ‘aggressive’, and the company caused two complainants to feel distressed and upset when they asked to speak to a relative that had passed away.”
He added: “Business owners operating in this field have a duty to have robust procedures and training in place so the law is followed. Attempts to rely on ignorance of the law, or trying to pass the buck onto members of staff or external suppliers, will not be tolerated.”
