UPD Ofcom Mistake Forces Delay to Plusnet Incorrect Billing Investigation

Ofcom has had to retract last year’s notification to Plusnet, which provisionally found that the UK ISP may have incorrectly billed customers of their fixed line broadband and phone services (here). This is due to a mistake with the regulator’s “legal enforcement powers.“

The investigation began on 27th May 2016 after Plusnet voluntarily highlighted the problem to Ofcom, which in November 2016 resulted in the regulator finding “reasonable grounds to believe” that the ISP may have continued to incorrectly bill customers of their fixed line broadband and phone services between 7th March 2008 and 3rd September 2015, even after those users had cancelled.

However the regulator has today retracted that notification because it “did not accurately reflect changes to Ofcom’s legal enforcement powers, which came into effect in May 2011“. This means that Ofcom will now have to re-draft the notification to correct for the error.

Ofcom Statement

As this technical change occurred within the period for which we have reasonable grounds for believing Plusnet to be in breach of GC11.1, we have decided to withdraw the original Notification issued to the company. We now expect to issue a new notification to Plusnet in due course.

End.

UPDATE 14th Feb 2017

Ofcom has now re-issued the notification, albeit reflecting a shorter period from 26th May 2011 to 3rd September 2015 (here).