Guarantee provides protection against Ofcom fines

Ultra Communications has introduced the Ultra Dialler Guarantee – a guarantee that protects companies conducting outbound calling campaigns against fines for breaching government rules on silent and abandoned calls.  

The Ultra Dialler Guarantee states that ‘Ultra Communications Holdings Plc promises to underwrite the cost of potential Ofcom fines for clients using its monitored Dialler service in accordance with its advice’.

The announcement comes a week after the news that Ofcom imposed a £750,000 fine on TalkTalk after an investigation found that the company had exceeded the limit of silent calls permitted by around 9,000.  In 2012, Homeserve received a similar-sized fine after it had exceeded limits for the number of abandoned calls permitted.

“While a number of dialler manufacturers and suppliers have made pledges to their clients that they will not exceed silent call limits breaching Ofcom guidelines, Ultra is the first, and possibly the only, supplier capable of providing real confidence by offering a guarantee backed by the financial commitment up to £2m*.” says Darren Sullivan, Ultra’s Chief Operating Officer.

“There are three key reasons we’re able to give clients this assurance. Firstly, our cloud dialler technology maximises efficiency, but can also automatically enforce adherence to all regulatory guidelines. Secondly, our unique support service, manned by our expert Network Operations team, proactively monitor all client campaigns for efficiency, and will identify discrepancies before they become a concern. Lastly, our financial health, as the longest running UK supplier dedicated to cloud-based telephony solutions, enables us to secure the financial backing.”  

* Ofcom rules concerning the use of Automated Dialler and Answer Machine Detection (AMD) Technology state ‘The abandoned call rate shall be no more than three per cent of ‘live calls’, calculated per campaign (i.e. across call centres) or per call centre (i.e. across campaigns) over any 24 hour period, and shall include a reasoned estimate of Answer Machine Detection (AMD) false positives’. Ofcom defines an AMD false positive as ‘when an AMD device mistakenly identifies a call as being answered by an answer machine whereas, in reality, it has been answered by a live individual’.  The maximum fine for breaking Ofcom rules concerning the use of automated dialling equipment is currently set by Parliament at £2 million.