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Ofcom Finds Many UK Consumers Owed Money by their Old Provider

Posted: 22nd Oct, 2010 By: MarkJ
ofcom ukA new Ofcom study has estimated that, over the past two years, up to 2 Million UK consumers have switched (migrated) away from their broadband internet or phone provider without realising that they could have claimed cash back for money paid in advance. A total of at least £10 Million has been left unclaimed.

Many consumers incorrectly assume that the pre-paid money cannot be claimed back and only a few ISPs, such as BT Retail, Orange and the Post Office, actively perform this process automatically. Sadly most communication providers still leave it up to the consumer.

Ofcom’s Chief Executive, Ed Richards, said:

"Consumers were telling us that they found it difficult to claim unused credit from their providers when they left their contracts. Taken together, people have been millions of pounds out of pocket as a result.

We hope that automated refund processes, clearer signposting by providers and our new consumer guide should help consumers claim back money that is rightfully theirs."

It should be noted that this is most likely to cover situations where you have paid for either your line rental in advance or for promotional credits. Sadly most longer contracts do not allow reimbursement if you leave early (otherwise there would be no point in offering them), which is normal. In fact you may have to pay extra to exit before a contract has finished.

Ofcom believes industry best practice should mean that all providers refund customers the outstanding credit they are owed automatically, and without any further action needed by the consumer.

The regulator has managed to make O2 , T-Mobile and Virgin Media / Virgin Mobile offer automatic refunds under certain circumstances. However customers of Sky ( Sky Broadband ), TalkTalk (including AOL and Tiscali UK) and Three (3) will still need to contact them directly to arrange a refund.
Ofcoms Consumer Guide to Reclaiming Your Cash
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/files/2010/10/how-to-claim-credit-refunds.pdf
Sadly Ofcom's guide only covers the big providers, although in theory it should only take a letter or two to prompt your former provider into coughing up. Just remember that contracts do vary but it doesn't hurt to ask.
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