Guardian News and Media/London
The government must take immediate action to curb the spread of nuisance calls and texts, a leading consumer rights group has urged.
Which? blames claims management companies for plaguing consumers with the majority of the UK’s unwanted communications.
The organisation says the information commissioner’s office, the ministry of justice, Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading must set up a joint taskforce to stem the problem, with a particular focus on the personal injury and payment protection insurance claims industry.
Research published by Which? suggests that seven in 10 people received unsolicited calls and four in 10 received an unwanted text during the last three months.
The watchdog found that one in four of its members who made a claim on their car insurance were contacted by a claims management company within three months.
Nearly half of these were contacted in a week, and many were bombarded by repeated calls and texts - 22% received 10 or more texts and 12% received 10 or more calls.
Currently, a number of leading insurers all take fees for referring customers to claims management companies (with customers’ permission), including: the AA, Admiral, Direct Line, eSure, Lloyds TSB, Tesco and Zurich.
But from April, new legislation will ban any insurer from receiving payment for passing on customers’ details to a claims management company or a legal firm following a personal injury claim, although this doesn’t cover non-injury claims such as car repairs.
Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: “Unwanted calls or texts are not just a nuisance, they can be intrusive and distressing. Many of us have been bombarded with spurious claims of PPI or injury compensation, and people are telling us they are totally fed up with this nuisance and want to see action.”