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In the UK it's become usual when attempting to contact any public facing organisation by phone to hear the phrase

"our phones lines are unusually busy right now, please be patient your call is important to us"

Or some similar platitudes.

This has become so prevalent that I can't remember any occasion within the last year that I didn't hear this phrase!

Since their phone lines are (apparently) always this busy, claiming that they are 'unusually busy' would appear to be untruthful.

Assuming that this is a lie (albeit just a little white fib) are the organisations making this claim actually breaking any laws, if so what? and does it make any difference between organisations?

I'm aware that traders have an obligation to honesty under the Customer Rights Act and various consumer protection laws, but is it relevant here? (it's not as if they're lying about a product you're planning to buy). But what about other organisations? My local council has had this message on repeat since covid, but as they're not traders as such, do consumer protection laws apply?

For clarity, I'm interested in all types of public facing organisations. Traders, Utility companies, Local councils, Doctors surgeries - any organisation that has a phone line and always claims to be unusually busy.

Alex Robinson
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ConanTheGerbil
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2 Answers2

67

This week's weekly email from MoneySavingExpert (a UK 'consumer champion' organisation) includes this item (my emphasis):

Please report "sorry, we are experiencing unusually high call volumes" messages. We want to test if some firms have this for EVERY call. If you call a bank, broadband, mobile, credit card, energy, water or sewerage firm, please take 30 seconds to report it via our unusual call volumes tool. In some cases, it may be a breach of the Consumer Duty (please bookmark this for when you need to use it).

There is a link to a webpage where consumers can report receiving such messages. Note that the list of relevant organisations doesn't include local authorities, and I suspect this is because the Consumer Duty referred to - the newly-introduced FCA rules and guidance - applies primarily to financial firms.

That said, the FCA page introducing the rules says

Who this affects   

This policy and guidance is likely to interest:   

  • regulated firms, including those in the e-money and payments sector
  • consumer organisations and individual consumers
  • industry groups/trade bodies
  • policy makers and regulatory bodies
  • industry experts and commentators
  • academics and think tanks

So maybe it would apply to a local council. I also don't know the legal status of FCA 'rules and guidance'. Perhaps when MSE have enough data, there will be a follow-up story.

AakashM
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Mouthing platitudes is probably fine

The prohibitions on deceptive and misleading conduct usually excludes marketing puffery, and the phones being unusually busy is probably such.

In any event, unusual is a word that is sufficiently vague that it’s arguably true of any company’s phones if considered over any time the company could choose. For example, if it’s a 24-hour phone line, the hours from 8am to 5pm (which is less than half the time) are probably more busy than the rest of the day. Or, if it’s a beachwear company, the summer months are unusually busy when compared to the rest of the year.

Dale M
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