utility registration

[BelindaChong]

A cautionary tale for anyone opening a new premises.
I signed up for telephone/internet with a company called XLN, and as part of the process they asked me if I wanted to be listed in directories. I said yes.
Ever since then I have been plagued with calls from people claiming to be from the registration board for electricity connection. Some have even claimed that I am breaking the law by not registering my supplier. One called Utility Registration phones continually even though I have explained that we have a contract, actually through British Gas. Their ploy today was to claim that BG had put up their price and we could still switch suppliers and save money.
From what I have read on the net these callers have got our contact details because I opted in to the phone directories.
I'm busy enough serving customers without wasting my time with these charlatans.

 

[KM-Tiger]

Made a similar error many years ago with a Yellow Pages listing. You'll probably get calls from fake charity scammers as well. Unfortunately there are vultures out there whose prey is new businesses. No need to be polite to them, just put the phone down if you are busy.

Probably worth registering your phone number with the Business Telephone Preference Service. It should help a bit.

 

[fairdealworld]

These calls are a day to day issue in running a business. In my experience as a shop owner there is no way to avoid such calls. You can say to yourself afterwards well if I hadn't ticked this box or that box or signed up with this or that or the other I wouldn't get these calls but actually you would. There are so many ways people can get hold of your number and if the Call Centre is outside of the UK not even the Business Telephone Preference Service is going to help.

My impression is that you are simply being too tolerant of these calls and listening for too long. Say 'no thank you' and put the phone down. Say 'I am happy with my current service thank you' and put the phone down. Respond to requests such as 'May I speak with the owner of the business/the human resources person/the person in charge of communications' or whatever with the simple words 'sorry no' and put the phone down. It doesn't get rid of the calls but it certainly cuts down on the time and worry of dealing with them. If someone says something in their initial sentence on the phone which worries you, don't discuss it with them, ask advice about it on these forums.

Personally I would never change things such as phone supplier, merchant card supplier, electricity supplier and similar on the basis of a cold call. I research such things for myself. Over the years I've found that staff members are astonished by my ability to say 'no thank you' and put down the phone without further debate and find it difficult to do the same themselves. One way I try to explain it is that people you really want to talk to will use what I call 'the magic words' i.e. they'll describe the reason for their call in one sentence and then say 'is it convenient to talk now?'. Even if they don't say 'the magic words' people we really want to talk to will always agree to us calling back at a more convenient time. Refusal to give a personal name, plus name of business, telephone number and information about the best times to call, shows it is an outbound call centre only, and these are the folk to avoid at all costs.

 

[kelvin1950]

TPS helps but as Fairdealworld says there is no sure fire way of stopping them. I find it helps after half a dozen calls if you're really abusive to them. It seems to shock them and the calls stop as if by magic. Off hand I can't remember the name of the worst offender that we had but when I did a duedil check on them their directors ran dozens of companies all doing the same thing.

 

[british steve]

I find blasting one of these at them stops them from calling back!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4x-Air-Ho...924?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d186345dc

Cheep, cheerful and very affective!

 

[emmylou74]

I got hit by that utility registration one as well when I first opened. They were so aggressive phoning continously sometimes more than 5 times a day. I am good at saying no but these guys resorted to high pitched screaming down the phone etc. Went on for about 6 months. I absolutely have no time for cold calling.

 

[kelvin1950]

My record is 38 calls in one day!

 

[The Wholesaler]

We find putting the phone in an empty Quality Street tin and shaking it around does the trick, and surprisingly I've never damaged the phone.

 

[BelindaChong]

Some good tips, thank you. It was down to just one call today, thankfully.