Vodafone have been fined £4.6m by regulator Ofcom for what has been classified as 'serious' breaches of consumer protection rules. These breaches include failing to top up some accounts of Pay As You Go customers and failing to deal adequately with customer complaints. Complaint levels for Q4 of 2015 can be seen below. It does not paint a pretty picture for Vodafone!
This fine offers a different angle for students to consider in terms of the role of regulatory bodies. As well as keeping check on an industry in terms of its prices and scope of delivery, regulators like Ofcom also have a duty to ensure that the quality of service is satisfactory.
The analysis from the Sky News clip below makes a salient point that you students may like to use as an evaluative argument. The clip suggests that a £4.6m fine is a small amount for a firm that makes multi-billion pound profits and may not act as much of a deterrent either to Vodafone or their competitors.
Pay monthly mobile telephony complaints per 100,000 customers/connections: Q1 2014 - Q4 2015:
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