Carphone Warehouse hit with £29m fine in UK

A British financial watchdog has imposed a fine of about £29m (€34m) on electrical goods retailer Dixons-Carphone for misselling its ‘Geek Squad’ phone insurance and technical support service.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the company’s main Carphone Warehouse retail division did not give its staff the right training to advise customers purchasing the service and were trained to recommend it to customers who already had cover. “Carphone Warehouse sales staff were trained in ‘spin selling’, where the focus was on persuading customers to purchase Geek Squad and on selling the features of the product,” the authority said. The company also failed to properly investigate, and fairly consider, customer complaints about the product, the watchdog said. Carphone Warehouse is Britain’s biggest mobile phone-seller. It merged with electricals retailer Dixons in 2014.