Uswitch comments on Ofcom’s final statement on end of contract notifications

Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at Uswitch.com, comments: “Ofcom is finally moving the telecoms sector towards what consumers have come to expect in other areas such as energy and insurance, which constitutes overdue but welcome progress.

“Uswitch’s research found that the aggregate cost of out-of-contract charges to telecoms consumers is £41 a second. This is why time is of the essence – everyday spent waiting for these notifications to be  rolled out, another £3.5 million is overspent on these services – meaning that more than £350 million has already been wasted since the consultation closed in February.

“It is worth pointing out that consumers should be wary of the ‘best tariffs’ outlined by their providers in these notifications as they will not necessarily be the cheapest or most suitable deals in the market. For an accurate picture of better offers available, as ever, consumers as advised to shop around.

“While it has been a long time coming, this is an important step by the regulator to address what has long been a clearly unacceptable gap in the rules, penalising consumers to the tune of millions.

“Customers should start seeing these notifications from February next year  but consumers currently paying over the odds while sitting out of contract shouldn’t wait to act. There are savings to be had and in some cases you can even pay less for a quicker or better service.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Rory Stoves

Phone: 020 3872 5613

Email: rory.stoves@uswitch.com

Twitter: @UswitchPR

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