Hidden contractual clauses in telecoms and IT contracts could be costing the North East’s business community over £5million, according to independent telecoms and IT provider CCS.
The company has released the figures to launch its research into unethical selling across the ICT sector, specifically focusing on clauses disguised within the terms and conditions of contracts which tie-in customers for longer periods than expected, or at higher cost.
CCS asked businesses across the North East what are the key issues they’ve encountered when trying to end, cancel or leave a telecoms contract. This qualitative research has shown hidden contract clauses have cost North East businesses an average of £15.70 per phone line, including landline and mobiles, and with an estimated 338,550 landlines in the North East alone, the cost of being tied into an unwanted contract could reach over £5million*.
“Many businesses may assume the finer details in all telecoms and IT contracts are more or less the same every time – length of contract, number of lines, the level of service you’ll receive, etc. and so may scan through the T&Cs in a contract rather than specifically reading each detail,” explains Chris Lee, managing director of CCS
“We’ve seen many businesses caught out by common catches within these agreements, finding themselves in difficult and expensive situations. The Telecommunication and IT sector generally has a bad reputation when it comes to such mis-selling and our mission is to become catalysts of change by raising awareness of such practices within the telecoms & IT industry”
The issue of not reading contracts fully isn’t restricted to just telecoms – research by The Money Advice Service highlighted only 16% of people fully read the Terms and Conditions before signing a contract.
To find out more about CCS’ ethical selling or to download a copy of the company’s white paper on the topic, including legal advice from Ward Hadaway, please visit www.CCSmobile.co.uk/TalkingARC
CCS now hopes to collate as many case studies as possible of businesses which have fallen foul to unethical selling practices in order to raise awareness of the issue and save others from the same problem. If you’ve been mis-sold a telecoms or IT contract CCS would like to hear from you – case studies will be anonymous, simply email hello@ccs.co.uk