Smile's Obligations

Sales and marketing of mobile communications services

Ofcom says that we need to tell you about our obligations to you under Condition 8 on our website and give you a copy free of charge if you ask for one.

Our obligations

We’re obliged to prevent mis-selling by making sure that the information we give to customers is accurate and not misleading. We need to ask the customer if they would like this information in a Durable Medium, which means any medium that allows information to be personally addressed to the recipient, allows the recipient to store the information and allows the unchanged reproduction of the information to be stored, for example, paper or email.

Retailers

If we work in partnership with another Retailer or third party (which markets or sells our services to customers), we need to make sure that they’re aware of Condition C8. And make sure that they

Provide accurate information to our customers

Ask customers if they want the information in a Durable Medium

Keep records of Tesco Mobile sales and incentives for at least six months

We’ll monitor the Retailer to make sure they’re doing all this and we’ll take action if they don’t.

Buying your phone or SIM

We need to make sure that before customers buy from us, they:

Are authorised to change a contract if they’re upgrading

Intend to take out the contract

Get clear and accurate information in a Durable Medium (e.g. key charges, payment terms, termination rights, start and end dates)

Provision of the service

We need to make sure that customer can get the services they’re taking out a contract for.

Keeping records

As the Retailer we need to make sure that we create and keep sales records for at least six months and records of sales incentives for no less than ninety days and at least six months.

Records should include sale date, sales channel (in store, online or over the phone) and place.

Training

We must make sure that anyone who markets or sells our services to customers is aware of Condition C8 and is trained appropriately.

Due Diligence

If we work in partnership with another Retailer or third party, before we enter into a contract with them, we need to make sure that they’re

aware of Condition C8 and that we:

Do a credit check on the Retailer

Check the Retailer’s directors have no bankruptcies or disqualifications

Keep these checks up to date

Monitoring Compliance – Use of Information

Any information we get from a Retailer for compliance purposes will never be used for anything else, and we won’t pass it to any other party that could gain a competitive advantage from it.

Sales incentives

If one of our Retailers offers customers an incentive that they’ll get after the contract has started, we need to make sure that the T&Cs aren’t overly restrictive. The customer must be given the following information:

i) The identity of the legal entity offering the incentive

ii) Our address, telephone, fax, email details

iii) A description of the actual sales incentive

iv) The terms and conditions of the sales incentive, including a detailed and clear explanation as to the process the customer must follow in order to get it

v) If it’s done over the phone, the customer should get a copy of this information in a Durable Medium