No Further Action After Refunds

Sure will face no further action after it failed to properly inform customers of prices increases for its broadband service.

The decision has been taken following an investigation by the Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority.

Sure increased its retail prices from July 1, saying that it was made in light on inflation, something it is required to inform customers of no less than 30 days before it takes effect.

During May 2022, as a result of routine compliance monitoring, CURA said it ‘became concerned that the steps taken by Sure to notify its customers of the impending increase in prices were not sufficient to fully discharge its regulatory obligations’.

It then opened an investigation into the matter.

Having assessed the information available, the authority was concerned that Sure had potentially breached its licence conditions, but was unable to make a definitive judgment.

It then wrote to Sure on June 17 to outline its concerns and to request further information that would demonstrate its compliance with its conditions.

Complaint

During that time, Sure made a complaint that Manx Telecom had breached the conditions of its licence. We have previously reported that MT had been found to breach its licence conditions when it failed to properly inform customers of a recent price increase.

CURA said: ‘The Authority holds that through the complaint submitted Sure demonstrated its knowledge and understanding of the above conditions and highlighted the importance of licensees being held to them.’

Responses

In its initial representation Sure clarified that the May increases noted by CURA had only been applied to new contracts. As a result, CURA agreed that there was no requirement to provide notice of such changes under any of its licence conditions.

CURA said: ‘Sure outlined further increases that would take effect from July 1 2022 that would impact existing customers. However, Sure argued that such increases would not constitute a breach of its licence conditions. Its argument focussed on the fact that Condition 7 of its licence requires there to be material detriment to the customer and Sure held that as the terms and conditions of the contract allowed for increases in line with RPI no material detriment had occurred.’

However, the authority didn’t agree with this view and said it believed that while the issue was dealt with in terms and conditions of the contract, it was ‘not sufficiently transparent or prominent’.

It added: ‘Firstly, Sure retained a significant amount of discretion in relation to the application of the term and secondly it was not made sufficiently clear at the point of sale; during sample purchases conducted and examined by the authority buyers were not made aware of the condition and during an in-store purchase were not provided with the terms and conditions upon request.’

Once CURA shared its preliminary findings with Sure, the company set out to remedy the matter by:

• Reversing the price increase for affected customers, backdated to July 1
• Issuing new improved standalone notifications to its customers to notify of the refund and advise of future increases due to RPI
• Increasing the prominence of the in-store and website RPI increase information
• Updating customer terms and conditions to make RPI based increases more transparent to customers going forward
• Providing staff with updated training to ensure they are fully aware of Sure’s regulatory obligations regarding RPI based increases and provision of customer terms and conditions

CURA said: ‘Therefore, taking account of information gathered during its preliminary enquiries, investigation, and representations made by Sure as part of the investigation, as well as having due regard for the remedial action undertaken by Sure during the course of the investigation, the authority has formed the view that it is not in the public interest to proceed with the matter any further.’