MSE News: The rogue companies that ignore 'no cold callers' signs

shammyjack

CRISPIANNE3 wrote: »

Even though we have clearly displayed a notice we do not buy from the door the Bettabuy and Kleeneze people think it does not apply to them.

They just ignore the notice and then end up knocking at the door requesting their catalogue back.

Ok they are only trying to earn a crust of bread like the rest of us but they really need to use some common sense.

They have to buy their catalogues so rip it in half and place outside in the bag provided, they will soon get the message !

UKoap

Had a Irish traveller yesterday touting for odd-jobs. I pointed to
my "No Cold Calling" sign and he said. "We don't pay any attention to those". Is this part of their culture?

buster09

I never answer the door at all unless Im expecting someone.

mo786uk

UKoap wrote: »

Had a Irish traveller yesterday touting for odd-jobs. I pointed to
my "No Cold Calling" sign and he said. "We don't pay any attention to those". Is this part of their culture?

Lots of people sign up to stuff even when they have the cold callers signs - so its always worth a knock.

Its exactly like telephone cold calling - peopel say they hate it but surprisingly a lot of stuff is contracted for on the phones.

marleyboy

Lots of people sign up to stuff even when they have the cold callers signs - so its always worth a knock.

Thats justification enough to be as abusive as is neccessary to get the point across much more bluntly, just where they can shove the product's they claim are so popular, they have to resort to ignoring direct requests on the off chance that they can still sell it somehow.

mo786uk

marleyboy wrote: »

Thats justification enough to be as abusive as is neccessary to get the point across much more bluntly, just where they can shove the product's they claim are so popular, they have to resort to ignoring direct requests on the off chance that they can still sell it somehow.

Yes the point of the signs are to 'empower' you just to point at the sign and say no/F off.

shammyjack

Luke_N wrote: »

Actually the DSA and the OFT have said that Avon/bettware/kleeneze and other catalogue companies can ignore signs that say "No cold callers" and "No sellers" as we aren't directly asking to buy products. Those companies can only ignore the signs if it says "no catalogues" etc.

In fact most of my customers have these signs and they buy from Kleeneze and betterware.

Please knock on my door and ignore my signs , preferably on a dark winters evening with no one around .

I look forward to it !

Tory_boy

glosman555 quoted below is unhappy to receive leaflets from the Labour Party, there is a way of opting-out and that is by writing to the person at the address listed in the imprint. The imprint is the tiny (font size) legal wording which must be on all political communication regardless from street handouts to Billboards to Party Political Broadcasts. Imprints needs only be of a readable size to the individual producing the communication with the naked eye (or glasses/contact lenses if worn on a regular basis), the distance read from is irrelevant.

Handing back the leaflet is a waste of time as it is usually a different deliverer for each area or is in some cases done by an external company hired by the party.

To opt-out you must write a physical letter and it must state at least the following: everyone in the household on the register agrees to have the address opted out, what communications you wish to opt out of simply stating "all communications" is too vague in this instance. You must also state that you and everyone in the household understands the consequences of opting-out. Everyone in the household must sign the letter. You also need to send it by recorded/registered delivery. It is also a good idea to have ask for a reply or confirmation be sent.

Even by doing this it does not mean that your property will necessarily avoid receiving all literature from the party you are contacting.

An Election Communication delivered by Royal Mail will not be covered. All Election Communication will have on them somewhere a stamp (usually where the postage stamp would be) saying "Election Communication Delivered by Royal Mail". You will have to contact Royal Mail to opt-out and even then it will only cover unaddressed mailings. You may still receive addressed Election Communications at election time, as these again are delivered by Royal Mail, but Royal Mail do not filter address mail of any kind. Addressed Election Communications are taken directly from the full electoral roll. Opting-out of being on the edited electoral roll will mean you are still on the full electoral roll.

By contacting the party it still does not guarantee circulars will not be delivered such as leaflets; as individual deliverers usually deliver every house regardless. So there is no real way of stopping those items reaching your address. Political Parties also have no legal obligation of any kind not to deliver unaddressed circulars which are going to everyone in your area to your property, even if you contact them.

The only real items you can stop are targeted political mailings and to stop all of them you must contact each political party individually in your area and each independent politician in your area individually. You cannot send one mailing to opt-out from them all.

Finally all political parties and politicians (of all colours and none) are exempt from all cold calling regulations as they have an exemption from the regulations. They are also not carrying out any business or trade and are not classified as selling anything. Political Parties are also in law unincorporated associations so the political party as a whole are virtually unsueable as only the person listed in the imprint on the communication is legally liable and that is virtually never anyone with any assets or the candidate. So assets of a political party cannot be sued for and damages can only be awarded against the person listed in the imprint. For example X party have HQ in your area and you try and sue them you would be unable to win any buildings or have an award against any buildings owned (such as a local HQ) by X political party. Only Joe Bloggs on the imprint could be sued and then they could only be sued for the content of the leaflet and not the manner you received it. The only case where this is different is if an action is being bought under an election petition, but then in this case only candidates and agents at an election can be bought in to the action. Even then only at elections which use a closed party list system of election such as European Parliament Election would a political party be the respondent as it is only at those elections are the political party a candidate. In all other cases it would be just the Candidate and their agent or the Returning Officer (in very rare cases).

So overall Political Parties are covered only by a tiny (if any) percentage of the regulations which are cited here as being cast iron stops on unwanted communications.

glosman555 wrote: »

In the last two weeks I have had 4 leaflets from the Labour party even though I have a large sign which says no junk mail. On the last occasion I handed the leaflet back to them saying I did not want their rubbish to which one of them said there was no need to be abusive and he had a democratic right to give out political literature.

loyalstokie

Where does yellow pages and phone books fit into all of this?

CommissionerSanders

I have had the two No Cold Callers on my front door for some months.
My response to those ignoring it to date has been to point at the signs and ask if they are illiterate.
After a particularly unpleasant individual called the other day I am changing my response.
Henceforth I will appear to be greatly interested and ask for either a card or literature so that I can arrange an appointment for a “fantastic” survey/site visit or whatever.
When their representative arrives I shall point to my notices and state that as their canvasser wasted my time I am wasting theirs.
I will also advise them to tell their canvassers to obey the signs otherwise it will cost them time and money, especially as I have posted this information on M.S.E.