𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

BT has refunded £18 million to customers after Ofcom ruled it did not give them enough information about their contracts.

The regulator fined BT £2.8 million last year after it failed to provide some EE and Plusnet customers with “clear and simple” contract information before signing up to a new deal.

Since June 2022, phone and broadband companies have been required to give consumers and small businesses the details of a contract, as well as a short summary of the key terms, before signing up.

This includes the price and length of the contract, the speed of the service and any early exit fees.

Ofcom opened an investigation into BT, which owns EE and Plusnet, having received information it may have failed to provide the documents.

It found more than 1.3 million sales were made without providing customers with the adequate information. At least 1.1 million customers were affected.

Ofcom found the telecoms giant broke consumer protection rules, requiring BT to contact affected customers, explaining it had not provided them with the necessary information.

However, some affected customers left BT before the end of their contract and may have been charged an early exit fee, according to Ofcom.

In a statement, Ofcom said: “As well as fining BT, we also required it to amend its sales process and refund any affected customers who may have been charged for leaving before the end of their contract period. We told the company that if it was unable to refund any money, it must donate it to charity.

“As a result of this enforcement action, BT has now refunded or credited £18 million back to customers and donated £440,000 across 17 charities where refunds or credits were not possible.”

A BT spokesman said: ‘We’re sorry that pre-contract information and contract summary documents were not available to some of our customers in a timely manner.

“We have taken steps to proactively contact affected customers and refund them if they had subsequently paid any early termination charges. We take compliance seriously at BT and have worked closely with Ofcom to implement all remedial actions.”