Illegal Phonecall Led to Contract which Company Refuses to Cancel

Blue109

For some years now, I've made sure that my 70 year old mother's home phone number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service so that she doesn't receive cold calls offering to sell her all manner of junk. A few weeks ago, she received one such call from a company based in Sheffield selling mobility aids. Her generous nature got the better of her and she was sweet talked into agreeing to allow a salesman to call round a few days later. He duly arrived and proceeded to pressurise her into signing a contract to pay the company £1,000 for a mattress for her bed (including using the disgusting phrase, "you can't take it with you love so you may as well spend it now".) She also handed over a cheque for the full amount to the salesman.

The mattress was duly delivered 2 weeks later. It was only at this point that she told me anything about it. She neither wants nor needs a mobility mattress with all sorts of vibrating parts and bits that raise electronically and only signed the contract as she was confused at the time (she thought the salesman was from the government). When she realised it was a private company she was horrified at the thought that she's been ripped off. She therefore wrote a letter to the company the day after delivery and asked them to cancel the contract and take back the mattress (I even offered to pay for the return). Unfortunately the company have written back saying that she should have cancelled within 7 days (as stated in the contract, but a full 7 days before it was delivered!). This has left her terribly upset and convinced that she's a burden on the family and is losing her marbles etc.

I understand from Consumer Direct that because the contract was signed in her home, the Distance Selling Regs don't apply and the 7 day 'cooling off period' starts from the day she signed the contract, not the day of deliver as with distance selling.

This anomaly between cooling off periods seems to me to be a huge loophole in the law, but there's not much I can do about it. I've spoken to the Manager of the company and he refuses to budge, simply stating that she had 7 days to cancel and it's her own fault. The morality of pressurising a 70 year old woman to part with a large chunk of her savings is lost on him and his attitude is one of arrogance and derision.

Anyway, my only hope now is to contact the TPS to complain about the company (the manager laughed when I said I was going to do this and said they were powerless anyway so I should go ahead). Whilst any ticking off the TPS give them is small consolation, I cannot find any advice anywhere about how the law views the proceeds of sales generated by illegal calls made despite being TPS registered.

Surely, the contract signed as a result of the illegal call cannot be considered valid? The company manager assured me that even when the call is illegal, the contract is still enforceable so it sounds like he already has experience of such things. I've searched the internet and asked Consumer Direct, but there doesn't appear to be information on this anywhere.

Sorry to have rambled on and any advice that anyone can offer would be very gratefully received.

Thanks

BillTrac

A few years ago when my mum moved into a retirement flat she wanted an electrically operated chair, and she stupidly called a freephone number in The Sun(spit, spit) and arranged a visit from a 'advisor'. Luckily she happened to mention it to me the day before his visit.

I made sure I was there before he turned up, and every time he suggested selling something to my mum I said I had to countersign any cheques (didn't really) , and I wouldn't if I didn't think the products were worth it. He even got to the point of trying to sell her a chair and was willing to throw an adjustable single bed in for free. When I said we might be interested in a free double bed he backed down.

Then he said buy a chair and get one free. I said why would she want two chairs? I said in that case we could pay half the cost he suggested and he could keep his free chair. Bearing in mind even after he reduced his ridiculous price, (after the old call his manager bulls**t line) it was still over priced crap. Funnily enough he didn't go for that deal...:rotfl:After an hour and a half of his drivel, and me questioning every single thing he said I told him we had had enough and he had to leave now.

Luckily I took my mum's cheque book and debit card with me because later the same day the scrote called her up to try and flog his crap to her over the phone!

Anyway, after all this drivel I am trying to say that the people who sell this type of over-priced rubbish to gullible people have no morals, and will use every trick in the book to keep hold of your money.

Keep on at them, involve every type of pressure you can....oh, and name and shame:mad:

Plus if anyone is going to buy my mum an electric chair it's gonna be me....:rotfl:

mo786uk

Is it actually ILLEGAL to make a call is the person is on the TPS?

There is the possibility of Proceeds of Crime legislation - that is legislation that can mean they lose any money they have profited from crime. Breaching the TPS is low level though. Its is usually used against fairly serious crime upwards.

You would have to show they did it regularly at the very least.

The 7 day doorstep cancellation rules do indeed apply from 7 days after the contract is concluded and not when they arrive.

Theonly other way is to prove high pressure aggresive selling.

pmduk

I think you're grasping at straws in trying to link the phone call to a signed contract in order to have the contract cancelled. Although all of these companies that use high pressure tactics to sell to the elderly are pretty shady in my opinion.

anmarj

"The Telephone Preference Service are happy to offer a complaint handling service as a value added service, however we are not the body responsible for enforcement and we are unable to take action against companies complained about. Complaints handled by TPS and Corporate TPS are included in a regular report sent to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). It is the ICO who are the body responsible for enforcement."

found this on the TPS webiste, you can make a complaint but it would be ICO that would have to take the action, might be worth starting the ball rolling.

Times we have been contacted we have stated we are with the TPS and they have backed down, they may of got around it by trying market research avenue as that is not covered by TPS.

squeaky

anmarj wrote: »

Times we have been contacted we have stated we are with the TPS and they have backed down, they may of got around it by trying market research avenue as that is not covered by TPS.

True enough, but I've found that if you mention tps in a friendly way to these callers and say that the reason you signed on with tps was because you don't want unsolicited calls, so could they please take you off their call lists - they usually do.

I'm down to about one unsolicited call a year now.

gordikin

...and does CPS only apply to UK based call centres? What do you reckon squeaky?

dzug1

gordikin wrote: »

...and does CPS only apply to UK based call centres? What do you reckon squeaky?

The location of the call centre isn't really the point - it's the location of the company they are pretending to be whose products/services they are pushing that is the issue

So a dodgy time share company in and calling from Florida is not covered - a dodgy double glazing company based in Manchester who contract an Indian call centre either directly or more likely through an advertising agency is.

squeaky

gordikin wrote: »

...and does CPS only apply to UK based call centres? What do you reckon squeaky?

Um... I don't think so...

The Crown Prosecution Service

Blue109

Thanks for the advice guys.

mo786uk - yes it is illegal to call anyone registered with TPS to try and sell anything. The TPS site states: "It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS.The original legislation was introduced in May 1999. It has subsequently been updated and now the relevant legislation is the Privacy and Electronic (EC Directive) Regulations 2003." Read the ICO site's advice about the regulations - it's defintely illegal to contact her in the first place.

Thanks for the advice about contecting their illegal contact with the proceeds they eventually gained. I realise it's hardly a case for major concern by the courts.

I'm now of the opinion that I'm powerless to do anything to stop these conmen ripping off my mother. I'm really disappointed that UK consumer law doesn't protect those who agree contracts in their own home in the same way it does those who order online. It strikes me that people like my elderly mother are unlikely to order things online, so if anything, the opposite should be true. Why does the cooling off period start at an earlier point if you order in your own home?

I just have to accept that this company - called Active Health Mobility Ltd, based in Bailey House, Sheffiled S1 4EH - have used this loophole to con a vulnerable old woman out of her savings and see no moral obligation to redress the situation.

Thanks anyway for the advice guys and I hope that anyone else reading this thread might be able to learn from our nievity about how the law might protect us.

pmduk

Your best hope is to get the press involved. Check whether they belong to any trade organisations and ensure the local trading standards is fully aware of their tactics. And make sure your mum knows not to let vermin like this into her home in future, even if she does think they're from the government.