O2 shuts out slammers

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<div class="rxbodyfield" xmlns:o="urn:www.microsoft.com/office" xmlns:st1="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags" xmlns:st2="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags2" xmlns:w="urn:www.microsoft.com/word" xmlns:x="urn:www.microsoft.com/excel"><p>Mobile phone provider O2 has won the battle against the slammers after taking Welsh sales company Landmark Marketing Services to court and obtaining a settlement.</p><p>Slamming is the name given to the practice whereby phone users are cold-called and urged to switch to another mobile phone provider. </p><p>This contentious exercise has hit all of the major phone providers and the sales companies who market their rivals&#39; products work hard for their high commission rates.</p><p>One such sales company was Landmark Marketing Services, who phoned O2 customers to coerce them into joining 3 or Orange and, according to O2, switched many of them onto rival tariffs without the consumers&#39; consent.</p><p>&quot;Landmark has recently entered into a settlement with O2 where it has agreed to put a stop to the practice of mis-selling and has paid &#163;500,000 compensation,&quot; a spokesman told the Guardian. </p><p>&quot;We are already involved in pre-litigation correspondence with another company and are lining up several others for actions in the near future.&quot;</p><p>According to the Guardian, Ofcom, which is hamstrung as it has no control over third party sales companies, has enlisted the help of the Office of Fair Trading and Trading Standards in an effort to clamp down on firms that switch customers without their consent.</p><p>What tariff should you choose? Pay As You Go or contract? <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Mobiles/Tariffs-Simplified.html">Find the best tariff for your budget. uSwitch.com can search available deals and find the one best suited to you. <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Mobiles/index.aspx?">Compare mobile deals and switch online for free</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.adfero.co.uk" target="_blank"><img alt="track" src="http://feeds.directnews.co.uk/feedtrack/dn.gif?feedid=362&amp;itemid=18061614" style="border:0 0 0" />&#169; Adfero Ltd</a></a></p></div>