Inquiry into Tesco Telecoms

By Andrew Parker

Published: May 4 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 4 2007 03:00

Regulators have announced an investigation into alleged mis-selling by Tesco Telecoms, the supermarket chain's fixed-line phone and mobile arm.

Ofcom said it had received complaints from consumers claiming they were wrongly sold Tesco's fixed-line phone service, known as Tesco Home Phone.

Some of these people alleged that Tesco failed to cancel orders on request.

Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive, has made cracking down on mis-selling of telecommunications services a top priority since taking up his post in October.

Tesco has 180,000 subscribers to its fixed-line phone service.

It expressed "regret" that some customers had found it difficult to cancel orders, but added "we would never knowingly mis-sell any product".