False name cold caller served Enforcement Notice
29th January 2019

A Kent home improvement company found to have made over 820,000 cold calls to TPS registered numbers and said to have used false company names such as Energy Care and Energy UK was this week ordered by the Information Commissioner’s Office it to stop its illegal marketing activity.

The Enforcement Notice against Sandwich-based NWR Ltd says the company first came to the Commissioner’s notice when another company reported that its trading name was being used to secure business from call recipients. An investigating officer traced 25 phone numbers allocated to NWR by a reseller since 2016 which uncovered many other complaints of which less than a third identified NWR as the source.

When challenged, the company denied using false names, suggesting the callers may have mis-heard or misunderstood. It also said it had bought its data from a third party company – but with the same directors – which had since ceased trading.

Among the complaints investigated, one householder told the caller they were TPS registered and had reported the company, adding “He then phoned back another five times within a few minutes.”

Others said they had been called numerous times and some said they had been told they Qualified for a ‘Green Levy’ or that the call was on behalf of a government scheme.