Very rude Telephone cold calling!

codger

I do get tired of posts which defend cold-calling on the grounds that "people are only doing their job".

People who take on such work know from the get-go that it involves invading the privacy of strangers -- and so have the choice of deciding whether they want to be in that kind of employment or not.

By contrast, the targets of cold-callers have no such freedom of choice.

If someone took a job for a market research company investigating the efficiency of doorbells, and then went from door to door disturbing the occupants as a result, would there still be posters on here saying ah, well, they're only making a living????

_pale_

ddavis

libra10 wrote: »

I just tell cold callers that I'm registered with TPS and their company can be fined £1000. It seems to get rid pretty quickly.

So do I..

but usually after i've played along and asked for their name and their company name

Horasio

I start telling them about my bad PMS, heavy period in a graphic way, backache or any other problem I think of at that moment. They don't want to be counsellors:D

vikingaero

codger wrote: »

I do get tired of posts which defend cold-calling on the grounds that "people are only doing their job".

People who take on such work know from the get-go that it involves invading the privacy of strangers -- and so have the choice of deciding whether they want to be in that kind of employment or not.

By contrast, the targets of cold-callers have no such freedom of choice.

If someone took a job for a market research company investigating the efficiency of doorbells, and then went from door to door disturbing the occupants as a result, would there still be posters on here saying ah, well, they're only making a living????

_pale_

I agree with codger. If your circumstances are plainly that you take up a cold calling job and you annoy people then that's your decision whether it's because it's your job or because you need to put food on the plates to feed your kids, then you need to take the abuse or find another job.

There's a marked difference between a company that subscribes to TPS and a local upstart double glazing firm that uses a mobile with unlimited evening calls to target loads of innocent local householders. If the DG company does get caught the initial penalty is nothing more than an agreement not to phone customers. Has anyone heard of any company fined the £1,000 maximum? An when faced with an agreement not to cold call the DG company will just restart under another name.

Ignite

Taking this a step further, there are 2 types of cold callers. There are the polite ones who tell you up front who they are and as soon as you say that you are not interested, apologise for bothering you and end the call, and then there are the scum who will not take no for an answer and keep on and on at you until you end up having enough. It is the second section of the cold calling comunity who deserve all they get.

uktim29

gregg1 wrote: »

What about my personal circumstances. I have just got home after a long hard day at work and am them bombarded with unsolicited phone calls in the privacy of my own home. If these people continue to invade my privacy then I will continue to handle the call in whatever way I wish. If they don't want people being rude to them, don't cold call - simple really.

Well just politely say no and put the phone down!

trisontana

A few weeks ago I had a call from what I think was a "boiler room" company trying to sell me some worthless shares. I told the guy I was TPS registered and he was breaking the law. He then became very abusive. I hung up and he then rang me again three times in five minutes. In the end I had to leave my phone off the hook for half an hour to make sure he didn't ring again.

dinglebert

Problem is I'm registered with TPS and get very few calls. However when I do get them and have complained to TPS I have never had any sucess in finding an incidence they feel that any of their guidelines have been broken.

Companies are not "breaking the law" if they cold call you even if both you and they are registered with TPS. They have broken rules. I would be interested to know just how many "fines" TPS gave out last year to companies who broke the "rules"

trisontana

They ARE breaking the law. To quote the relevent UK Government web-site:-

This guidance will help you understand the
rights you have in relation to direct marketing.
It will also explain what you can do if you
believe an organisation is breaking the law and
what action can be taken against organisations
that break the law. It is based on the Data
Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and
Electronic Communications (EC Directive)
Regulations 2003.

As well as contacting the organisation concerned, you can also list your details on
preference services such as the TPS and FPS. Organisations cannot contact you with
direct marketing if you are on these lists unless you have told organisations directly that
they can do this.

In most cases, sending direct marketing in breach of the law is not a criminal offence.
However, if an organisation continually breaks the law, we can issue an Enforcement
Notice. This will tell the organisation what the Information Commissioner believes it has
done wrong and what steps it needs to take to comply with the law. The organisation has
the right to appeal against this to the Information Tribunal. If they do not appeal or their
appeal fails, and the organisation carries on and ignores the Notice, they would commit a
criminal offence and could face a fine of up to £5,000

You can see the full (PDF) document here :-
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/introductory/unwanted_marketing_guidance_oct_06.pdf

Ellie2758

grannybroon wrote: »

I agree with libra10. We are registered with TPS and I just politely say, sorry you shouldn't be calling, we are registered with the Telephone Preference Service. Sometimes the phone is put down immediately, sometimes an apology - our list must be out of date. Did you know you can register for E-mail Preference Service and Post Preference Service too? We did the e-mail one and don't get any spam (but we do have all sorts of filters on). Didn't do the mail one as we wouldn't get things like the Council Newsletter or recycling dates as they are delivered by RM. We just recycle as much junk mail as we can (and to be honest it isn't too much these days).

GB

Were you told by Royal Mail that you would not get the council newsletter if you registered for no junk mail? It's a myth to stop more people from signing up.