Contacted by my 'letting agents'

DunderMifflin_2

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this - so forgive me if it isn't.

I'm currently in the process of moving to a new flat - earlier today I received a text from my 'letting agent' with the following:

We need to speak you about your new home, is now a good time to talk? Call 01403 216131 or reply to text - Letting Agent Name

This seemed strange to me straight away as a) That isn't the number for our letting agents and b) They normally just ring me if they need to speak. A quick Google of both the number the text is from and the number in the text and I've discovered that it's come from a company called Bulldog home who sell broadband.

Common sense and some of the results from Google tell me there's some kind of arrangement between the letting agent and this company, wherein they are given my contact details and if they manage to sell something to me the letting agent gets a percentage.

What troubled me was that they were posing as the letting agent - can they do this? Luckily I was savvy enough to figure out it wasn't what it seemed but obviously seeing 'We need to talk about your new home..' was a bit disconcerting, and I can imagine others might panic and call the number.

Obviously I'll just ignore the text - but I was just wondering if there were any legal issues here and whether I should talk to the letting agent/some other organisation about it?

Thanks in advance.

InsideInsurance

Phone your agents on the proper number you have for them and query it with them.

Certainly when we last moved we got calls from insurance brokers who'd had our details passed to them by the letting agents. Given the greater legal regulations of insurance they did admit who they were and that it had been a referral.

Have had other companies, gas safety, house inspection etc subsequently claiming to be our letting agents instead of admitting who they really are but who knows why as its not as if they are trying to sell me anything.

macman

Companies frequently offer kickbacks to agents or LL's who sign up new customers for them-Spark Energy was notorious for doing this, targeting the naive student market in particular.

unholyangel

It may be covered by the CPRs (unfair trading regulations). Can be misled by action or omission and I believe identity along with motives for commercial practice (among other things) are considered material information.

Of course, the other applicable part is that it needs to cause the average consumer to take a different decision as a result. IMO I would expect something like this to lead to people at least making the initial phone call - when they wouldn't have done if they'd known who it was actually from.