Auto Rollover Contracts to be Banned by Ofcom

The UK communications regulator Ofcom is bringing new rules in which will prevent auto rollover contracts from being legal. At the moment a company such as BT can make a contract auto renew at the end of the initial agreement. Under the new rules this practise will be banned.

The rollover is commonly about 12 months at a time but is often put in the fine print of a contract which makes trying to leave a contract a little more difficult than expected. With the new rules in place it will prevent this from happening which will in turn, make it easier to move to providers.

“Ofcom’s evidence shows that ARCs raise barriers to effective competition by locking customers into long term deals with little additional benefit. Our concern about the effect of ARCs and other ‘lock in’ mechanisms led to our decision to ban them in the communications sector.”

The new rules are not in place just yet, but Ofcom expect them to go live by the end of this year. For those about to sign a contract we recommend reading the terms and the fine print before signing.

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