"No I am not interested" to which he replied,
"Wait Sir, I'm not trying to sell you anything", again I said,
"I am still not interested", then he said,
"Well is there anybody else in the household who I could speak to?" That's the bit which really got my back up, I said
"No, goodbye" . and I hung up the phone.
Nothing too unusual about that I guess, except that I've not had one of these calls on a Sunday morning for as long as I can remember and secondly our number is registered with the Telephone Preference Scheme. So this got me thinking :)
I rang 1471 and expected it to be a withheld number but no, the number claimed to have come from 02084 336081. I called it back and got a recorded message which said I had received a call from Kantar Operations, a bonafide marketing company and this was not a sales call and that if I wanted to check I could call the "Market Research Society" on 0500396999.
So, guess what, I called them back. I was sure nobody would be there on a Sunday at almost mid-day but sure enough, they answered in 2 rings. I explained I'd had a call from
"Kant...." I was interrupted...
"Oh they are absolutely fine Sir, no problem with them"
"But how did they get my number?" I asked
"They just random dial Sir." Hmmmm I thought...
"Well they should not have called our number as it is registered with the TPS?"
"Ahh but the TPS does not cover marketing calls Sir" (not sure about that I thought)
"Well, I will be looking in to this, thanks goodbye"
So, there seems to be at least two things wrong here:-
Random number dialing, also called random digit dialing, is probably an illegal practice if before dialing they do not check the number against the TPS lists and secondly, the TPS does cover sales and marketing calls, it says:-
What is TPS? The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a central opt out register whereby individuals can register their wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls. 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. Kantar Operations on the face of it do seem to have a legitamte website but I could not find an address for them, though a phone number is listed Anyway I will now go and fill out a complaints issue against Kantar on the TPS website. |
2 comments:
Genuine market research & political polling are two exceptions to the TPS, as I understand it. The thought being that certain classes of people are over-represented in ex-directory status.
That being said, they really shouldn't badger people who don't want to take the call.
Random dialing for *sales* purposes is, I'm pretty sure, still frowned upon by Ofcom. Of course, there are ways round that.
When I was very young, foolish & in need of cash I worked in "Market Research". In reality, asking a few questions and then trying to get someone to accept a "free" magazine subscription as a "reward". Luckily I didn't last long in that job!
Good luck with your complaint. I don't think that telesales / marketeers understand what I violation of personal space an unwanted call is.
Personally, I keep them on the phone as long as possible - often "popping to the kitchen to stir some soup" - it's their money I'm wasting.
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