Carphone Warehouse became one of the first companies to be fined for "causing annoyance to consumers through the making of silent or abandoned calls" in contravention of the Communications Act 2003.
Silent calls can occur when automated calling systems used by call centres generate more calls than the available call centre agents can manage. When the person called answers the telephone and there is no agent available, the automated calling system abandons the call. This can result in the person called experiencing silence on the line when they answer the telephone.
Carphone were one of four companies being investigated by Ofcom, the others were Space Kitchens (fined £45,000), Bracken Bay Kitchens (£40,000), and Toucan (£32,500). The maximum financial penalty Ofcom can impose under is £50,000 per notification. In each of the four cases, Ofcom imposed a penalty taking into account the steps taken by that company to bring the misuse to an end and ensure compliance; the representations made by that company; and "the nature of the persistent misuse and the degree of unnecessary inconvenience, annoyance and anxiety that company's conduct caused consumers to suffer as a result of abandoned calls made by automated calling systems."
Carphone were one of four companies being investigated by Ofcom, the others were Space Kitchens (fined £45,000), Bracken Bay Kitchens (£40,000), and Toucan (£32,500). The maximum financial penalty Ofcom can impose under is £50,000 per notification. In each of the four cases, Ofcom imposed a penalty taking into account the steps taken by that company to bring the misuse to an end and ensure compliance; the representations made by that company; and "the nature of the persistent misuse and the degree of unnecessary inconvenience, annoyance and anxiety that company's conduct caused consumers to suffer as a result of abandoned calls made by automated calling systems."