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VODAFONE HAS BEEN spared a criminal conviction after customers with complaints were “given the runaround”.
The telecom firm was ordered by Judge Anthony Halpin last month to pay €10,000 in prosecution costs and to donate the same amount to charity.
He noted today that the company had complied, and he struck out the case at Dublin District Court.
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) prosecuted Vodafone after it looked into several customer complaints in 2020.
The company entered guilty pleas to seven sample charges.
ComReg compliance manager Miriam Kilraine had told the court some Vodafone customers were “given the runaround” when they attempted to log complaints.
The telecom company failed to deal with them as required under a code of practice, stalling the process.
In 2020 she received a high number of calls from Vodafone customers unable to or who found it difficult to log a complaint.
Supervisors were not available or did not phone customers back.
ComReg took a sample of cases from May to November 2020 involving seven customers.
They had contacted Vodafone with various complaints on multiple occasions.
Vodafone had prior convictions resulting in fines arising from prosecutions by ComReg and the Data Protection Commission.
At the hearing on 14 September, Judge Halpin noted the firm’s guilty plea, cooperation and an agreement to contribute €10,000 to ComReg’s costs.
He accepted Vodafone allocated significant resources to ensure these issues did not arise again.
Complaints have dropped, and processes have been updated, Vodafone’s solicitor had told the court. He also submitted that the offences were on the lower end of the spectrum.
The number of complaints was minuscule given the firm’s number of customers, the defence said.
Comreg brought the prosecution under Regulations 27(1) and 27(2) of the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services)(Universal Service and Users’ Rights) Regulations 2011.
Give us the answer so we don’t have to watch the v clip
Can’t watch videos in work….c’mon Journal. Get with the programme.
He drives a four wheel drive VW transporter and an Audi A4. Sorry I watched the video now!
Cheers John
does he wear the jumpsuit everywhere he goes
Some say he knows two facts about ducks, and both of them are wrong.
Glad to see he had the last laugh over Clarkson who publicly derided him on a number of occasions for leaving the show.
How has he had the last laugh? Clarkson is worth millions.
I AM THE STIG!
Clarkson lost Top Gear and his ego will have taken a severe beating as a result..no money on the world can offer any comfort to that ego maniac..
Is this television or a a news website?
Ahh Jebus Paul do you really visit the journal.ie for news?
Some say that his buttocks are back to front and he wears aftershave that smells like 10w40 .
But we know him as “The Stig”
Couldn’t be the Stig! Must be the Stink!!
On fairness of you get to drive the best cars in the world why bother forking out shed loads of money on your own. A car which would satisfy his driving ability would be so expensive it wouldn’t be viable.
The owners of those cars usually buy them to show off and pose in
This guy doesn’t need to show off
have your say