Can a company call at 8.22am about an unpaid bill?

CitizenBidet

I just received a call from my cheap rate telephone company  at 8.22am to remind me to pay a one month old bill that I only received a reminder for yesterday. The bill is approx £10 which I had misplaced and forgotten about until I received the reminder.

I haven't been sleeping well and when I answered the phone I didn't realise how early it was and as usual was very polite. Now I cant get back to sleep (that's why im here!) and am a bit miffed that I was called so early!

Is it customary to call customers at such an early hour and is it legal for them to do so?
Did they break a rule?


Must sleep! zzzz

lisyloo

I am pretty sure they haven't broken any laws (although if they did it persistently then you could accuse themof harrassement).

My guess is that they have done this deliberately to be inconvienient sto motivate you not to do it again.

It is rather inconvinient but I doubt very much whether it's illegal.
An unreasonable time would be before 7 a.m.

CitizenBidet

What makes it worse is that I cannot find a copy of the bill and am not sure I ever received it, thats not to say that I havent misplaced it which is possible. However as £3 of the bill is late fees I want to verify if I am at fault before I pay tomorrow

alexj2002

IIRC then anyone can make a call between 7:00AM and 10:00PM legally. Outside these times you need to have the permission of the other person to call them.

Pat__3

IIRC then anyone can make a call between 7:00AM and 10:00PM legally. Outside these times you need to have the permission of the other person to call them.

Unless this has changed it use to be 9pm at night and the same with door callers. :-/

I also think when they ring that early they may be trying to catch you before you go to work ::)

brambleboy

A couple of weeks ago I had a call from the lovely One Tel at about 08:15am... was woken up to be asked to pay an outstanding bill - the bill wasn't outstanding... had cancelled my account with them and then cancelled my direct debit... yet they had still tried to take money from my bank account, and when their request had been refused they decidced to call me and practically demand for it to be paid by debit card over the phone.  Not impressed by their customer services at all....

waaag

Hi there, i would be very annoyed at being called at that hour,too. I have had similar incidents, what I have done is had a 'caller display'. This is either combined into your phone model, (from argos or index) or is a separate box. This way you can see who is calling and choose whether or not to answer it. Usually it will be a 'caller witheld number' if it's calls of this nature. Also you could screen your calls with an answer machine, you could key into the (telephone) caller display model, all your family/friends/work numbers that way you can see who's name comes up. It works for me! At least you are prepared this way for future incidents/people you don't want to talk to!!

mink35

Waaag - I do this for those annoying double glazing people! Now have several numbers that come up as 'Don't ansa'!

Had right argument with one who told me that to get my (ex-directory) phone number off their list I would have to register with the TPS! I asked him if he was using a list in front of him and he said he was so I told him to cross the damn number off his list then as I didn't want to register with the TPS. Haven't had a call back from them! ;D