Telecoms companies failing disabled customers

Communications providers are getting worse about giving advice to disabled customers concerning services legally available to them, according to communications regulator Ofcom.

Ofcom said that a mystery shopping exercise carried out between August 2009 and March this year revealed that even after being asked, a third of companies failed to provide any information.

When compared to research carried out in 2006 when nine in 10 (91 per cent) companies gave information, even after being prompted, the regulator said this was a “significant drop”.

Under the Communications Act 2003, providers of fixed and mobile services must provide a range of services for disabled customers. These include; text to relay services for those who are hard of hearing or have speech impediments; Braille bills for those with visual problems; free directory enquiries for customers unable to use a printed directory and priority fault repair (fixed line) for those who depend on the telephone because of ill health or disability.

Companies must also take reasonable steps to ensure these services are widely publicised.

To check that providers were abiding by these rules, ‘relatives’ of people who had visual or hearing problems, a cognitive impairment or were in hospital long term called eight providers.

In total 1,272 calls and 105 emails were sent to BT, Orange, O2, Talktalk, T-Mobile, Virgin Media, Vodafone and 3. Their websites were also checked to see how easily the information could be found.

Ofcom has discussed the findings of the mystery shopping with the relevant providers and has asked them to set out an action plan with reasonable timings for improvements.

The regulator then plans to undertake further mystery shopping and, depending on the results, will consider taking enforcement action if necessary. This could result in a fine of up to 10 per cent of turnover for those failing to meet their obligations.