CMA reaches agreement with four cloud storage providers over changes to consumer contracts

The CMA said BT, Dropbox, Google and Mozy had all agreed to amend their consumer contract terms. It said the companies would provide "a better service for their customers" as a result.

The four cloud storage providers have each made separate commitments to the CMA. Between them their changes address issues such as the notice consumers will be given before the companies make "significant adverse changes" to the price of cloud storage services, the service they provide, or their contract with service users, the CMA said.

The changes also address information about consumers' cancellation rights and refunds, the circumstances in which the cloud storage providers can suspend or cancel services, as well as notice and information to be given about automatic renewals of contracts.

Nisha Arora, CMA senior director for consumer enforcement, said: "People increasingly rely on cloud storage as a safe and convenient place to keep family photos, music and important documents, so it is vital that they are treated fairly and are not hit by unexpected changes to price or storage levels."

"We want to ensure that companies treat their customers fairly and comply with consumer law; those that don’t, are at risk of enforcement action," Arora said.

The CMA said it is "working with other companies in the cloud storage sector to improve compliance with consumer law and ensure a better service for users". Earlier this year it urged cloud storage providers to review their consumer contract terms and conditions after finding that some commonly used clauses might breach consumer protection rules.