Rude Receptionists- Telemarketing

[Chris Kaday]

Exactly you got it and with that pragmatic approach I bet your business is doing well too
Chris Kaday
Business coach

Exactly, especially smaller businesses that want to get in front of larger corporates. Other marketing alternatives such as effective SEO, Advertising campaigns etc work fantastically for most target markets such as small businesses and consumers.

However if I want to get an answer about my product or service from the Marketing director of Sainsbury's or Vodafone, telemarketing is pretty much the only way to get heard

 

[scm5436]

....Hi there I know this is a quite a strange post but i was wondering if theres anyone out there that can advise me on how i can go about making a website/one page site for me to express my views and possibly list all companies that I speak to with very rude receptionists!!!!

Here's an idea. Why don't WE set up a website for annoying idiots like you. That way we could all make a big list of companies that cold call, and make sure we boycott those companies for all future business. We could also have a top 10 of the most frequently reported companies and then we could have a blitz day where we all kept phoning them up, pretending to be interested in buying lots of stuff, and then say we don't deal with cold-calling companies and hang up.

Then we'd see how YOU like it when a constant stream of people keep phoning you up out of the blue and wasting YOUR time.

I do a lot of telemarketing and basically I am very polite and friendly to receptionists even if they are rude to me but when they think that they own the company and have the right to make decisions on behalf of other employees in the company!

It doesn't matter if your act politely or not, it's rude of you to hassle them in the first place by phoning up. Is it ok to mug someone on the street if you're polite about it? And most of the times the receptionists have been told by the owners or managers to get rid of cold callers, and not put them through - because they are fed up with people like you as well and simply don't want to have to waste their time dealing with you - that's the receptionists job (and if you can't get past the resceptionist they're doing a jolly good job!

I hope you don't think im crazy because im not, just after 7 years its really starting to annoy me that people can get away with speaking to other human beingsthe way they do

You've been hassling people day in and day out for SEVEN YEARS and you are getting annoyed at us??? Have you any idea how many people you've annoyed in that time? Why the hell shouldn't we annoy you back?

 

[DuaneJackson]

Can this please be discussed without resorting to personal remarks.

 

[scm5436]

Can this please be discussed without resorting to personal remarks.

Why? The thing about cold calling is it annoys a lot of people. If this clown goes around annoying people and then has the gall to suggest setting up a website of those people that they've annoyed then quite frankly they deserve some personal remarks.

 

[DuaneJackson]

Why?

Because it's the rules of the forum.

 

[scm5436]

Well I did try to change the word 'idiot' to something less personal after your warning, but I can't seem to edit the post. So anyone please reading the above substitute the word 'idiot' for 'phone spammer'.

 

[georgina.suntel]

oh my god !!!! Excuse me scm5436 have you ever done telemarketing yourself???? By the sounds of things obviously not and i didn't do this job and there is such a JOB out of choice i was 13 when I HAD to go out and get work and I realized that I was good at it and carried on telemarketing and sales ever since. I know its not the best job in the world and yes it is very tedious but I do not think of it as ANNOYING PEOPLE because some of the time I help these people by offering then a service that they actually NEED or WANT for a lot less cheaper price and better service, hjave you ever thought about it that way??????????

 

[scm5436]

oh my god !!!! Excuse me scm5436 have you ever done telemarketing yourself???? By the sounds of things obviously not and i didn't do this job and there is such a JOB out of choice i was 13 when I HAD to go out and get work and I realized that I was good at it and carried on telemarketing and sales ever since.

No, of course not. Why would I want to do something like that? There are plenty of jobs out there, there's no need to resort to telemarketing.

I know its not the best job in the world and yes it is very tedious but I do not think of it as ANNOYING PEOPLE because some of the time I help these people by offering then a service that they actually NEED or WANT for a lot less cheaper price and better service, hjave you ever thought about it that way??????????

Yes, I always look at both sides of the argument - do you? So you help people 'some of the time' - but what about the rest of the time? Is it ok to annoy/iritate or just waste the time of 10 people if you help 1? maybe if you're saving their life, but just to save a few quid? Maybe you should look at it from our point of view. There are other ways for you to make money - but there's no way for us to avoid dealing with people like you. You have a choice, we don't - that's why we get annoyed.

If I want something cheap I'll google for exactly what I need, when I need it. Sitting around while random people call me to sell random products in the hope that the right person with the right product will call at exactly the moment I'm thinking of buying something and be able to offer me a better product/price than I can find myself seems a very weird way to go about buying something.

 

[spigwell]

oh my god !!!! Excuse me scm5436 have you ever done telemarketing yourself???? By the sounds of things obviously not and i didn't do this job and there is such a JOB out of choice i was 13 when I HAD to go out and get work and I realized that I was good at it and carried on telemarketing and sales ever since. I know its not the best job in the world and yes it is very tedious but I do not think of it as ANNOYING PEOPLE because some of the time I help these people by offering then a service that they actually NEED or WANT for a lot less cheaper price and better service, hjave you ever thought about it that way??????????

I think you hit the nail on the head there when you say "some" of the time you help people, by using the word "some" would indicate that "most" of the time you do not help people, therefore you would be an annoyance to them.

I think Scm5436 has hit on a good idea with a website exposing those companies who call us the most I for one would contribute to it, I would also like to see (as mentioned previously) an "opt-in" service as opposed to the tps opt-out service. If the telesales industry truley believes that they are not annoying people with calling them then should welcome that idea, somehow I dont think they would sign on to that idea.

Regards
Gary

 

[cjd]

.................I do not think of it as ANNOYING PEOPLE because some of the time I help these people by offering then a service that they actually NEED or WANT for a lot less cheaper price and better service, hjave you ever thought about it that way??????????

It's not personal, it's not your products - it's the fact that you may well be the 25th cold call today.

 

[scm5436]

.....and also that some businesses are so small they outsource there phone lines to 3rd parties to deal with customer enquiries, and get charged per call. Imagine how overjoyed they are to find a big bill caused by cold callers.

.....and that other small businesses answer the phone themselves (ie. they don't have a reeptionist whose job it is to sit around taking calls), so every cold call interupts their work.

 

[annethedonn]

If you don't want sales calls register on the TPS, simple! If not, be prepared to get sales calls!!! I agree Georgina, there's no need to be rude. Most receptionists worth their sort will have had some kind of telephone training in how to deal with this sort of thing and it never tells you to be rude. Just assertive. I usually just say I'm on the TPS and that ends the call there and then unless they don't know what it is in which I explain, and it kind of puts them off their stride. Georgina is lovely, why anyone would want to be nasty to her is beyond me!!! ;-)

 

[scm5436]

If you don't want sales calls register on the TPS, simple! ..... I usually just say I'm on the TPS and that ends the call there and then

Well you're kind of contridicting yourself there. If it was as simple as registering on TPS then why are you still having to tell people you're on TPS and explain what it is? BECAUSE THEY JUST IGNORED IT AND CALLED YOU ANYWAY, ie. it's not just as 'simple' as that. If it worked you wouldn't have to tell them you're on TPS because they wouldn't have called you in the first place.

 

[annethedonn]

Well you're kind of contridicting yourself there. If it was as simple as registering on TPS then why are you still having to tell people you're on TPS and explain what it is? BECAUSE THEY JUST IGNORED IT AND CALLED YOU ANYWAY, ie. it's not just as 'simple' as that. If it worked you wouldn't have to tell them you're on TPS because they wouldn't have called you in the first place.

Not really, you may get callers from abroad that won't know about this. Any decent telemarketing company will know about TPS and will make sure they do the relative checks before hand. If they don't they can be fined so it's in their interests to do this. We make sure all of our data is TPS checked before embarking on any telemarketing campaign for us or our clients. I think I have had about 5 sales calls this year as opposed to getting 5 per week I'd rather register than not so it is worth it. Anyway, let's not get all hot and bothered, it's only a suggestion. I'm leaving now before it starts getting heated!

 

[blackandwhite1986]

....Hi there I know this is a quite a strange post but i was wondering if theres anyone out there that can advise me on how i can go about making a website/one page site for me to express my views and possibly list all companies that I speak to with very rude receptionists!!!! I do a lot of telemarketing and basically I am very polite and friendly to receptionists even if they are rude to me but when they think that they own the company and have the right to make decisions on behalf of other employees in the company!
Obviously if they have a no names policy or simply don't take cold calls fair enough but there is no need for them to speak to me/other telemarketers the way they do, thinking that they can answer on behalf of others without even consulting the person im calling to speak to and the tone of voice they speak to me in. maybe if i was pushy and rude back then i expect to be spoken to like that but I am fed up with these snotty receptionists thinking they can get away with it- surely the directors of these companies would'nt be happy if they knew how they spoke to people on the phone- i could be a client for all they know!
I am unsure if this would be illegal for me to do, on an actual published website i mean, obviously if i just keep a record for myself I should imagine its ok but i really want to make a wesite and express my views and also so that other telemarketers can add details to aswel, if they like!!!
Anyway sorry to go on....I hope you don't think im crazy because im not, just after 7 years its really starting to annoy me that people can get away with speaking to other human beingsthe way they do, there really is no need!!!

Sorry haven't read all the posts but Georgina....do not go there....you will never work in telemarketing again

 

[blackandwhite1986]

....Hi there I know this is a quite a strange post but i was wondering if theres anyone out there that can advise me on how i can go about making a website/one page site for me to express my views and possibly list all companies that I speak to with very rude receptionists!!!! I do a lot of telemarketing and basically I am very polite and friendly to receptionists even if they are rude to me but when they think that they own the company and have the right to make decisions on behalf of other employees in the company!
Obviously if they have a no names policy or simply don't take cold calls fair enough but there is no need for them to speak to me/other telemarketers the way they do, thinking that they can answer on behalf of others without even consulting the person im calling to speak to and the tone of voice they speak to me in. maybe if i was pushy and rude back then i expect to be spoken to like that but I am fed up with these snotty receptionists thinking they can get away with it- surely the directors of these companies would'nt be happy if they knew how they spoke to people on the phone- i could be a client for all they know!
I am unsure if this would be illegal for me to do, on an actual published website i mean, obviously if i just keep a record for myself I should imagine its ok but i really want to make a wesite and express my views and also so that other telemarketers can add details to aswel, if they like!!!
Anyway sorry to go on....I hope you don't think im crazy because im not, just after 7 years its really starting to annoy me that people can get away with speaking to other human beingsthe way they do, there really is no need!!!

Sorry I haven't read all the posts but Georgina....do not go there....you will never work in telemarketing again

 

[scm5436]

do not go there....you will never work in telemarketing again

that seems like a good result to me - go there go there!!!

 

[maxine]

Well you're kind of contridicting yourself there. If it was as simple as registering on TPS then why are you still having to tell people you're on TPS and explain what it is? BECAUSE THEY JUST IGNORED IT AND CALLED YOU ANYWAY, ie. it's not just as 'simple' as that. If it worked you wouldn't have to tell them you're on TPS because they wouldn't have called you in the first place.

Any professional telemarketing company will conduct TPS checks and not call you if you are TPS registered. They will not last very long if their whole business is based on cold calling if they ignore TPS. The cold calls that you get ignoring TPS are more likely to be from other businesses where there is a lack of respect or lack of awareness of TPS. How many times have we seen on here business owners posting threads about cold calling campaigns that they are doing or planning on doing themselves and it is usually one of the telemarketers on here that point out the TPS of which the poster was blissfully unaware of until then? And this is on a business forum!! How many other businesses out there have absolutely no awareness of TPS? Or quite frankly, couldn't care less if they TPS check or not. When I go out on telemarketing quotes and talk to business owners I am regularly surprised by attitudes based upon it being a gamble of a fine versus the likelihood of new business ie; that the new business gained will pay for a fine if they are likely to get one. There have been businesses on here who take their data from places that are not TPS checked and then just start cold calling willy-nilly and then have the balls to ask for advice and guidance or tips

So before you start slagging off all the telemarketers on here as "Annoying people and Idiots" ask yourself if your last cold call that you received was from a UK Telemarketing Agency? My bet is that it probably wasn't and more likely to be from non-UK or a business doing their own inhouse telemarketing (badly!)

Just one other thing...

... I have worked in a variety of job roles, some of them senior management in finance and IT and have CHOSEN to do this line of work. I couldn't give a stuff if you think that is something that I have "resorted" to as I know what I enjoy doing and what I can earn

If you don't want cold calls here are a few tips from a telemarketer

* Put yourself on TPS/CTPS (or stop complaining!)
* Make sure all of your phone numbers are on TPS not just one or two as sometimes data is available for registered office number, trading office number, website telephone number etc.
* Give out 087 numbers
* Set yourself to not receive anonymous calls from companies with-holding their phone number

Then if people call and ignore TPS be as rude as you like and report every single one of them as you will be doing the professionals among us a favour

 

[georgina.suntel]

Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean???? Why won't I do telemarketing again I have been doing it for years and will be carrying on for however long i choose to.

 

[spigwell]

Any professional telemarketing company will conduct TPS checks and not call you if you are TPS registered. They will not last very long if their whole business is based on cold calling if they ignore TPS. The cold calls that you get ignoring TPS are more likely to be from other businesses where there is a lack of respect or lack of awareness of TPS. How many times have we seen on here business owners posting threads about cold calling campaigns that they are doing or planning on doing themselves and it is usually one of the telemarketers on here that point out the TPS of which the poster was blissfully unaware of until then? And this is on a business forum!! How many other businesses out there have absolutely no awareness of TPS? Or quite frankly, couldn't care less if they TPS check or not. When I go out on telemarketing quotes and talk to business owners I am regularly surprised by attitudes based upon it being a gamble of a fine versus the likelihood of new business ie; that the new business gained will pay for a fine if they are likely to get one. There have been businesses on here who take their data from places that are not TPS checked and then just start cold calling willy-nilly and then have the balls to ask for advice and guidance or tips

So before you start slagging off all the telemarketers on here as "Annoying people and Idiots" ask yourself if your last cold call that you received was from a UK Telemarketing Agency? My bet is that it probably wasn't and more likely to be from non-UK or a business doing their own inhouse telemarketing (badly!)

Just one other thing...

... I have worked in a variety of job roles, some of them senior management in finance and IT and have CHOSEN to do this line of work. I couldn't give a stuff if you think that is something that I have "resorted" to as I know what I enjoy doing and what I can earn

If you don't want cold calls here are a few tips from a telemarketer

* Put yourself on TPS/CTPS (or stop complaining!)
* Make sure all of your phone numbers are on TPS not just one or two as sometimes data is available for registered office number, trading office number, website telephone number etc.
* Give out 087 numbers
* Set yourself to not receive anonymous calls from companies with-holding their phone number

Then if people call and ignore TPS be as rude as you like and report every single one of them as you will be doing the professionals among us a favour

So it's down to the individual companies to keep on taking steps to try to stop the constant barrage of cold calls, You suggest that we should always be polite to any call we have even if we have become registered with the tps, Where would you like us to stop? perhaps you would like us to employ someone just so they can answer all of the cold calls and tell them ever so politely that we would not be interested. Maybe if we did that the next post on these forums would be how unfair we were that we say we are not interested all the time. The easiest solution to all of this would be to stop calling and try new methods.
regards
Gary

 

[georgina.suntel]

what new methods would you suggest then Gary because i know and all telemarketers know that telemarketing is a great method and 9 times out of 10 achieve great results so it is a proven method its only a few of you that get het up about it !! Cmon its just business and so what if you get a few phone calls a day its not the end of the world you say nicely no thanks and ciao !!! and back to your work - simple !!!!!

 

[blackandwhite1986]

Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean???? Why won't I do telemarketing again I have been doing it for years and will be carrying on for however long i choose to.

Georgina, I'm not sure if you are replying to my post but if you are heres my answer and if not I apologise!

I cold call in my job and you will always come across rude people no matter how polite or well mannered you are.

Making a list of those that you think are rude is not going to endear you any more to them nor is it professional in the least.

You will run the risk of becoming more reknowned within your industry for your list then for your work. People talk. Remember when you are selling, it is your company, not yourself, that you are representing and you may come across these people again in the future. No matter how great your product or service is they will point blank refuse to deal with you.

I fully sympathise with where you are coming from but the web list is not the way forward

 

[georgina.suntel]

ahh right yes i understand what you mean - ok sorry i had probably just had a particularly bad day and needed to air my views but some people obviously had a bad day aswel and decided to take things out of proportion!!! I do think its quite funny though that people cant just accept that telemarketing is a job and some people do actually enjoy it- a lot of the time i do speak to a lot of nice people that maybe aren't interested in the service im offering but do appreciate the call to see if theyre interested or not!!

 

[Mattonella Tile Studio]

The problem is Georgina you don't know what people are doing. If you call me now (and that's not an invite) I'd have a couple of minutes. If you'd have rang this morning when I was working out calculations you'd have got a terse response to say the least.

At least with e-mails they can be ignored this morning and I'm replying to them this afternoon now.

 

[blackandwhite1986]

You've hit the nail on the head georgina. you've been in the game longer than me so you should know not to let people affect you! chill out!

The best response you can give to anyone that is rude is to remain professional.

 

[spigwell]

what new methods would you suggest then Gary because i know and all telemarketers know that telemarketing is a great method and 9 times out of 10 achieve great results so it is a proven method its only a few of you that get het up about it !! Cmon its just business and so what if you get a few phone calls a day its not the end of the world you say nicely no thanks and ciao !!! and back to your work - simple !!!!!

Georgina your original post was about rudeness by receptionists that you were getting from a number of calls, now it transpires that 90% of your calls are in fact sucessful and you are using a proven method. I have to say I am now somewhat confused, 90% success rate and your still unhappy, that kind of hit rate would make you one of the best telesales people in the world, and if you are only complaining about 10% of the calls you make being negative then you really need to take a close look at what you are doing and lower your sites. We would all like a 100% hit rate but it does'nt mean we should complain if we don't achieve it.
Regards
Gary

 

[maxine]

No Gary. I said if people then call ignoring your TPS Status then be as rude as you like. Looks like you mis-read my post

 

[spigwell]

No Gary. I said if people then call ignoring your TPS Status then be as rude as you like. Looks like you mis-read my post

I did, therefore I apologise. read the part about changing my phone number to an 087 number though, seems a bit strong having to resort to my customers having to pay premium rate just to talk to me when all I want to do is stop the endless cold calls we get. Strangest thing about all of this is that the TPS do not stop the calls from your own admission the tps has no power over companies calling from abroad, I have found that being rude, curt and abusive does actually go some way to stopping or at least lowering the amount of times the same company keeps phoning me back. If you want politness send me a letter.

Regards
Gary

 

[maxine]

I sympathise Gary as all this really makes our job so much harder. I cannot think of another trade where people/potential business partners are so open about their right to be as rude as possible.

The suggestion about the 087 number is a bit strong but maybe you could use that for your registered office telephone number rather than a customer facing one such as sales or service (if you have more than one number) as it would help from data that is taken from companies house.

If it helps I would say that business owners who buy non-tps checked lists ie; off ebay take a gamble with TPS status and would usually hope that you would point out your TPS status to them at which point they apologise and remove you from their list. It doesn't make it OK as the damage has already been done and they have called you already. This is why I think the complaints made to OFT should be taken a lot more seriously and acted upon more vigorously. It is not fair on the telemarketers who incur costs in TPS checking when others just help themselves to data on yell or wherever without any consequences.

It doesn't help that TPS checking is so costly either at 50p per check. If you are a small business doing small numbers of cold calls then the corporate license is laughable in terms of cost justification. Even a small campaign of around 1000 call attempts would cost £500 for individual TPS checks so small businesses simply do not do it but will take a gamble. This gamble is seen as pretty safe by quite a lot of callers as not many fines appear to be dished out.

Perhaps if the TPS check was free it would get used more. Perhaps if there was greater awareness of TPS from the start of trading people wouldn't break the law without knowing. I don't think it is mentioned in any of the Ltd Co or Self Employed start up literature that is published by companies house or HMRC or even business link. It is only the large companies that can afford the corporate licenses whereas the smaller businesses have no option but to pay a disproportionate amount for the same service and rightly or wrongly this encourages the behaviour to ignore it!

As a lot of businesses are not aware of TPS costs, they do not appreciate the value of data supplied by telemarketing agencies/freelancers as part of a campaign. This makes it difficult to be perceived as value for money when there is a lack of awareness of this cost from the outset!

If you were able to change your phone to only accept non-anonymous calls it would probably stop a lot of the foreign calls or calls ignoring the TPS status as you would then be able to do 1471 to get their number to report them to OFT.

 

[Neil Warren]

Actually, Maxine, unless we're talking at cross purposes here, you don't have to have your own licence to get CTPS or TPS screening? Firms like Admar can screen your potential lists for you at £2 per thousand for CTPS, for example....

http://www.admar.co.uk/ctps.htm

 

[maxine]

Hi Neil. The point I was trying to make (not very clearly) was that the cost of a full annual license to download the TPS/CTPS is £2700 http://corporate.mpsonline.org.uk/CTPSC/html/cost.asp

This for me is cost prohibitive. I only provide small-ish amounts of data relevant to campaigns and if someone wants something out of the norm then the costs to check records individually are quite high as it means going to a data bureau if you are not able to do a look up against the database yourself through not having the full license.

I believe that a lot of small business owners see the costs as too high and combined with the lack of awareness of TPS anyway it is no wonder that a lot of small businesses simply make a commercial decision to ignore TPS. There is a bit of old-school attitude that says "why shouldn't I make cold calls to sell my service/product when everyone does it". When people do become aware of TPS/CTPS the first place they go to for information is the TPS website and the costs shown on there I believe encourage business owners to stay ignorant. I am only saying this because I get lots of enquiries about telemarketing services and I talk with prospective clients about what they are currently doing and they are quite open about this.

I think it is wrong for TPS/CTPS to only have the cost options of either a) £2700 for full annual license or b) adhoc fees that work out around 50p per check when there are other resellers who charge around £2 per 1000 as you point out. If the TPS were to charge a reasonable fee in the first place then perhaps there would be more use of the TPS database at source

(shall put soap box back under my desk now)

 

[spigwell]

Hi Neil. The point I was trying to make (not very clearly) was that the cost of a full annual license to download the TPS/CTPS is £2700 http://corporate.mpsonline.org.uk/CTPSC/html/cost.asp

This for me is cost prohibitive. I only provide small-ish amounts of data relevant to campaigns and if someone wants something out of the norm then the costs to check records individually are quite high as it means going to a data bureau if you are not able to do a look up against the database yourself through not having the full license.

I believe that a lot of small business owners see the costs as too high and combined with the lack of awareness of TPS anyway it is no wonder that a lot of small businesses simply make a commercial decision to ignore TPS. There is a bit of old-school attitude that says "why shouldn't I make cold calls to sell my service/product when everyone does it". When people do become aware of TPS/CTPS the first place they go to for information is the TPS website and the costs shown on there I believe encourage business owners to stay ignorant. I am only saying this because I get lots of enquiries about telemarketing services and I talk with prospective clients about what they are currently doing and they are quite open about this.

I think it is wrong for TPS/CTPS to only have the cost options of either a) £2700 for full annual license or b) adhoc fees that work out around 50p per check when there are other resellers who charge around £2 per 1000 as you point out. If the TPS were to charge a reasonable fee in the first place then perhaps there would be more use of the TPS database at source

(shall put soap box back under my desk now)

Regardless of whether or not TPS is expensive is no excuse for companies breaking the law. I am sure that the excuse of either "i did not know I was breaking the law" or "but the lists are too expensive" would not hold up in court.
Personally I think motor insurance is far too expensive but would not drive anywhere or any vehicle without it. Telesales is by far the largest way of cold calling used within the UK, sadly it also has the largest percentage of companies/individuals flaunting the law than any other. It is because of the sheer volumnes that do abuse it in this way that gives the profession such a bad name, in my opinion I would say that the majority (not all) of cold callers using the phone fall into this catagory, even some large companies that can afford to pay for the lists now phone from abroad so they can avoid this particular legislation.
It is partly due to this reason, I believe, the response has been like what it has been on this thread. If the trend continues I also believe that it is only a matter of time before more laws are introduced to make it even harder, the more current laws are flouted the more the resentment towards the industry grows, telesales will eventually become responsible for its own demise unless those companies that do try to do it right and those that do try to do it professionaly stand up and speak out aginst those companies that do not. Instead of giving excuses why companies are not complying with the legislation we should be saying why they should be, 0because they will cause untold damage to the industry.

Regards
Gary

 

[David Griffiths]

Personally I think motor insurance is far too expensive but would not drive anywhere or any vehicle without it.
Regards
Gary

If you don't pay your motor insurance they can confiscate your car.

Now it's no good sending somebody round to confiscate the phone. What they could do is cut off the line. Then they'd have to deal with BT to get another one or get it reconnected. Even I think that might be too harsh a punishment!

 

[spigwell]

If you don't pay your motor insurance they can confiscate your car.

Now it's no good sending somebody round to confiscate the phone. What they could do is cut off the line. Then they'd have to deal with BT to get another one or get it reconnected. Even I think that might be too harsh a punishment!

Regardless of what the punishment is laws are laws and are not supposed to be broken, because it is classed as a white collar law it is no reason for people within the same industry to condone it. I don't pay my car insurance because they can confiscate my car if I don't, I pay it because it is illegal for me not to.

Regards
Gary

 

[maxine]

Gary, think you might be misunderstanding me again. I do not condone it. Quite the opposite. I wish that the laws would be enforced more vigorously to make life easier for professional telemarketers and to help make this form of marketing more successful for businesses.

My post was to demonstrate a cause that I believe drives other businesses (non telemarketing agencies) to behave badly and ignore the laws which gives the activity of cold calling a bad name.

I just had a very rude cold caller from an advertising agency call me to say "they had been passed my details by Experian as a business in Cambs and are calling me about advertising in a community magazine. Was I looking to spend any money on advertising at the moment?" I responded with "no" so without another word he put the phone number down on me! I hate it when people call like this as no need to be so damn rude. If the number hadn't have been with-held then I would have called him back to give him a mouthful. So I do sympathise with people getting the brunt of rudeness

 

[UKSBD]

I just had a very rude cold caller from an advertising agency call me to say "they had been passed my details by Experian as a business in Cambs and are calling me about advertising in a community magazine. Was I looking to spend any money on advertising at the moment?" I responded with "no" so without another word he put the phone number down on me! I hate it when people call like this as no need to be so damn rude. If the number hadn't have been with-held then I would have called him back to give him a mouthful. So I do sympathise with people getting the brunt of rudeness

CM ?

 

[scm5436]

So if this is illegal (flouting the TPS) does that mean we can report offenders? who to? will they get fined? or only repeat offenders?

 

[UKSBD]

First you have to register
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

If it is a call to a business you have o register with the CTPS
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/ctps/what/

Takes about a month to register.

You can then file complaints online
http://complaints.tpsonline.org.uk/Consumer/

The TPS don't actually deal with complaints, but pass on details to the ICO.
One complaint wont make a lot of difference, but if they receive enough
complaints about the same company they then act.

The important thing is to always report them, too many people moan but
do nothing about it.

 

[David Griffiths]

The important thing is to always report them, too many people moan but
do nothing about it.

It's actually quite interesting to see the reaction. As soon as the pitch starts I ask them to confirm the name of the company, then the telephone number, and then the address.

The initial reaction is generally glee that they have (what they think is) somebody really interested in their company. Then there's a sense of unease - why is this bloke quite so interested? So they ask.

And of course I tell them. End of call!

 

[UKSBD]

It's actually quite interesting to see the reaction. As soon as the pitch starts I ask them to confirm the name of the company, then the telephone number, and then the address.

The initial reaction is generally glee that they have (what they think is) somebody really interested in their company. Then there's a sense of unease - why is this bloke quite so interested? So they ask.

And of course I tell them. End of call!

I always ask if they have a website first, then go on to ask about their
company and contact details. At least that way you usually find out who they
are.