advice on a cold calling company

T.F.S.B.I.G.W.S.

I am sure that they have absolutely no right to demand travelling expenses but, to boost your confidence and info, contact Trading Standards and arm yourself with the facts which you will need.
Salesmen travelling 40 miles?
Some salesmen love it when it is raining - they stand there - no brolly and no hat looking like a drowned RAT (poor things! Got to let them in and buy stuff which you don't need just to make their day!)
I have even heard of one who will burst into tears and discuss his financial woes and heartbreak in order to clinch a deal
Some salesmen will tell you that they have been walking for miles - blisters on their feet to prove it - and some will say they have driven for miles!

Hillfly

See if you can get your dad to grant you power of attorney over his affairs. This will aid you and him in combatting this sort of thing as you can make calls on his behalf and as he gets older will allow you to help run his daily affairs.

My Mum & I did this for my Gran. It was just in time too as she went a bit doo lally and we were able to help her sort things out much more quickly. She now lives in an old folks home and has nothing to worry about as we can run her finances for her.

tawnyowls

I believe you can also get BT to block any calls where the number has been withheld - the caller gets a message on the lines of 'This phone does not accept calls from withheld numbers'. Between that and the TPS, that should get rid of the majority.

impy78

From And all That Malarkey

You probably know how it is, you're just sitting down to dinner (perhaps in front of your favourite TV show) when the phone rings.

Salesman Hello, can I speak to the person responsible for your gas/electricity/telephone/bills, please?

Your heart sinks. Sometimes it's UPVC double-glazing on offer, sometimes you've won a competition (which you hadn't entered) and are eligable for �1000 off a new kitchen. At work the calls can multiply. But rather than just say We're not interested! or hang up, if I've got a free five minutes I like to play games.

This is a real conversation, I promise nothing has been made up.


Salesman
Good evening, can I speak to the person who looks after your telephone bills please? I'd like to tell you how we can save you money on what you're paying now.
Malarkey
I'm sorry, we haven't got any telephones.
Salesman
What do you mean you've got no phones, I'm calling you now aren't I?
Malarkey
Yes I know, clever isn't it? We use tin-cans joined together with string. It's not perfect but we pay nothing for our calls. (Makes string twanging noise) (Twang!)
Salesman
You're not serious?
Malarkey
(Twang, twang!) I'm perfectly serious, we've given tin-cans to all our friends and family too. We've even got broadband, but we use rope instead of string for that. (Twang!)
Salesman
So you wouldn't be interested to find out more from me?
Malarkey
(Twang!) Sorry? (Twang!) It's getting windy outside. (Twang, twang, twang!) I'm losing you.
Salesman
!!!! off! (Sound of hanging up)
Malarkey
(Twang!)

dunstonh

Any news for us yet and what happened?

Elmer_Dudd

This firm operates across the UK.
I am unsure of what name they trade under.
They send out post saying you have won a bed and when you answer back they turn up at your house and give a 5 hour demonstration of the type of beds they sell. They use high powered tactics to wear down the unsuspecting householder (nearly always elderly) and try and sell them a very expensive bed that is not needed.
No free bed.:eek:
Just a big bill and healthy slice of commission for so called 'salesman'.
Another elderly person conned.
Should all be made illegal.
Elmer:mad:

regularsaver1

Hi

was the meeting today - how did it go?

auburnette

I work for a financial services organisation and have done cold-calling in the past, so I'm well versed on things like the TPS and the Distance Selling Directive.

Firstly, TPS takes a while to kick in after you register (normally about 3 weeks) but after you are registered, if you get any nuisance calls you can take the caller's company name and address and sue them. Breach of TPS can shut a call centre down, as they're suspended from operating whilst the investigation is carried out. This doesn't apply to foreign call centres though.

If they are calling because you have "opted-in" to receive information (from leaflets or whatever) there's nothing you can do except ask to be placed on the "Do Not Call" list.

If you, as a consumer, DO buy something over the phone, even if you enter into what appears to be a binding contract, there is NO obligation to pay anything whatsoever if you decide you then don't want the service or product or whatever. Same goes for associated expenses. Under the Distance Selling Directive you have a "cooling off period" during which you can cancel with no obligation. The length of the cooling off period depends on the product or service offered.

jonnym

Hi All, and thanks again for taking the time to respond to the thread :beer: , I would have had nowhere near enough preparation to handle this otherwise.

I went round to my dad's this afternoon and there was a knock about 40 minutes after I got there. When I was going to the door, I could hear talking and knew that he'd obviously made the trip with a cohort.

When I answered the door, the guy didn't look one bit suprised I was there and turned on the charm. He asked if it was me he was seeing about the bed, all smiling and i said yes, although I think you thought you were going to take advantage of my father instead.

He put his foot on the doorstep and I asked that he remove his foot because he would'nt be getting into the premises and that we were not interested in any products that he had to offer. He said "well your father expressed an interest on the telephone and I think that should be his decision." When I said that i was all too familiar with companies like his capitalising on the vulnerability of the elderly, He told me that "real customers" do buy their beds!

He got very shirty when he realised that I would not be backing down, and said "your father is aware that I will have travelled 80 miles by the time I get back to the office and he was told on the telephone that he would pay for the time I started travelling to this call? If he should want the bed, that is also taken off the price off the bed along with the current discount awarded to him." I then asked why they had told my father that he had "won" the bed and he raised his voice and said "NO!, He was told that he had been awarded...that is in the context of the discount he is getting" (you learn a lot about these people when face to face, he never once implied that dad was not having the bed until the end.)

I then said I didn't appreciate him raising his voice to me and told him I was all aware of his ethics and what he had come to do, and I looked at his colleague, who barely looked 16 and had not said a word, and said to him "and i know you're only here to double-bag the sale", and he looked at the floor, but his mate was not so easily swayed.

He said "I need to see your father in any case then, if my times been wasted, he needs to sign my paperwork to say that I have been and he has declined the award, otherwise neither of us get paid our hourly rate and the call cannot be signed off". I told him that he was a fool to think that I would let him in the house, let alone sign anything, and also told him that I had power of attorney over his finances (worth a shot, thanks Hillfly) and that any kind of expenses would have to come through me, so his signature would be academic.

At this point, he asked that I sign the form and I told him that "I would not be signing anything, sorry" and closed the door. I was tempted to ask him the company details and get a number so I could follow up on anything, should needs be, but I hate confrontation and I felt like he was starting to get the upper hand even though I was remaining firm.

I just hope that I don't hear from these scumbags again, but I'm not holding my breath. He was putting so much impetus on this signature though, that I get a feeling that he needed that to do anything else at all, expenses or bed sale or whatever we would end up paying and that the phone call won't hold any water for them getting a penny.

I shall let you all know should anything else come up, but I hope thats the end of it.

shelly

Nice one jonnym for sticking up for your Dad. Scum like this get on my t**s.