O2 touting for business

FTB83

Hi - I'm new to this moneysaving marlarky but just wanted to post on this board to warn others...

This afternoon I received a call on my mobile phone from O2 (I am with Vodafone). They asked me who my contract was with, what the deal was, how much I used my phone etc. etc., and then proceeded to try to tell me what O2 could do for me as a provider.

I asked him how he got my mobile number and he said that network providers all share their information (i.e. mobile phone numbers). Anyway, I rejected the offer citing that I still had 12 months of my contract to go.

I called Vodafone as I really wasn't impressed that another provider was calling my mobile touting for business, I explained to them what had happened and that O2 said that all service providers share details of phone numbers. She simply said this wasn't the case. I explained then that perhaps they should take action on the fact that another service provider is contacting Vodafone's customers on their mobile phone and trying to get their business. She was completely non-plussed and really couldn't have cared less.

Does anyone think they should have been more bothered or am I just too fussy?? And what of O2's blatant lie about how they got my phone number?

matrix999

Hi FTB83,

I doubt it was actually O2 that called you. It was probably one of those call centres that phone people up and try to get them to sign up to a new contract.
There has been a few threads discussing these cowboys!

HTH

FTB83

Thanks for the reply matrix999 - I had no idea it was widespread.

I just called the number back to see who answered - it's an automated message saying 'you have been called by LBM on behalf of one of our clients, if you wish to receive a follow up call, you need take no further action. If you do not wish to receive a call from us, call our 'low cost' number...0845' blah blah blah.

Naughty people!

redux

As matrix says, this will not be O2. There are websites that can derive which network a number was originally on, and I believe there are databases that some dealers use which give a first issue date for blocks of numbers, so that some of these chancers can take people in by appearing to know the rough renewal date, but it sounds like the ones contacting you are rather more amateurish than that.

FTB83

I've just googled LBM and found the following advice:

http://www.dynamoo.com/diary/lbm-direct-marketing.htm

It seems that not only do they do unsolicited nuisance calls, but they ask people to ring a number that makes them a profit just to stop the calls.

Cheers for the replies folks, really appreciated. Hope this post might help anyone else who receives any calls from them aswell, especially if they do become a nuisance as the linked article refers to.
:beer:

Mobile_Mole

As redux says, dealers can guestimate contract expiration dates from mobile number allocation and make speculative calls based on this. But there is a possibility this call may have been a genuine O2 call.

Although LBM are a direct marketing company renowned for cold calling, you may not know that O2 are actually one of their clients. LBM handle both inbound and outbound sales calls for O2. So it's a possibility, but not a certainty, that the call was actually from O2 outbound sales.

I believe LBM also handle calls for CPW as discussed in this thread.

Cheers
Mark