Reactiv Media respond to £50,000 nuisance calls fine

The Reactiv board issued a statement regarding the ICO’s investigation into making unsolicited marketing calls to people who had registers with the Telephone Preference Service.

“Whilst Reactiv Media is disappointed to receive a fine from the ICO, the fine relates almost in its entirety to events that happened 18 months ago in October & November of 2012.

“At that point in time there was an error in our TPS screening process, which meant we did call some numbers that we weren’t meant to call, for this we apologise.

“Some of these callers did however take a product or service as a result of the call. When we became aware of the error it was immediately rectified.

“At Reactiv we talk to approximately 125,000 people per week, and indeed last week the number of complaints we received from the TPS register was zero. Over the last few years as a result of taking a call from Reactiv millions of people have taken a product or service from us.

“Reactiv Media Limited takes privacy seriously and stands by a firm commitment to investigate and resolve any enquiry about the use of personal data within the time-line established via the Data Protection Act (1998).”

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which govern telephone marketing, prohibit making unsolicited telephone calls to people who have put their number on the TPS register.

Between November 2012 and December 2013 the TPS received 481 complaints from individuals who had received unsolicited calls from Reactiv Media Limited despite registering with the TPS.

The ICO also received 120 complaints.