Phone Company Shenanigans

[ITL]

A short while ago I had a phone call from a phone/internet company called Eze-Talk - I asked the guy why he was calling (he asked for me by name, as they all bloody well do these days), and he said that his company "buys calls from BT", whatever that means. BT are British Telecom - my phone/internet supplier.

So anyway - he acted as though his company was already in charge of my account, and asked if I wanted a reduced rate for my line rental. He said that I'd be paying by direct debit, just like I have been doing.

But that's the thing. I don't pay by direct debit. Never have. I use a BT payment card at the Post Office. And I told him this. And then I told him to get stuffed and put the phone down.

The reason I'm annoyed is that he acted as though Eze-Talk was already my supplier and that he was merely going through the motions of sorting out my line rental, when he was actually cold-calling to tout for business.

Bastards.

 

[judge alba]

you know i got the same sort of thing they called me and asked if i wanted to save money then before i could say anything the woman prattled on about getting a cheaper deal. she even claimed that they were bt at first it was when she told me i could carry on with direct debit (again i dont i pay when the bill arrives in the post). i got suspious and asked her to confirm she was actually bt. of course she told me she want and that Eze-talk were acting on thier behalf.
more less got told to sod off after telling her i was with the telephone preference service and if they called again id report it to them.

 

[ITL]

Pathetic, aren't they?

Nearly as bad as the insurance company that once phoned me up and said "I hear that a member of your family has been in an accident, sir...." to tout for business.....

My reply was extremely rude. And loud.

 

[judge alba]

too right it reminds me to keep on my garud when anyone asks for some info or if i want to save money

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

And they keep going even when you've told them you can't understand what they're saying. As if they hope you'll be so annoyed you'll say yes just to shut them up. :P

 

[jamestyler]

Pathetic, aren't they?

Nearly as bad as the insurance company that once phoned me up and said "I hear that a member of your family has been in an accident, sir...." to tout for business.....

My reply was extremely rude. And loud.

I did that for a while, not with that opening line, but sold personal accident insurance.

It was the toughest job I've ever had.

 

[ITL]

If the pitch is transparent and polite, I'm polite in reply - I know that the person on the other end is only doing their job.

It's the sly tactics and douchebaggery that annoys.

 

[Jadzia]

Yeah, when a company tries to sell you stuff over the phone, they'll often make assumptions...

In fact, when you correct them by saying "no I don't have direct debit for this service". = Data collection.

Don't correct them. If anything, make out that you're not in charge of services because it is arranged by your landlord. So what if that's all lies, I've found that it stops many of them calling back, which goes to prove there is data collection

 

[jamestyler]

If the pitch is transparent and polite, I'm polite in reply - I know that the person on the other end is only doing their job.

It's the sly tactics and douchebaggery that annoys.

Thats a bit of a contradiction to me. The sly tactics are forced upon by the team leaders/managers and if you don't adopt them or conform to the guidelines you lose the job. Some are happy to bullshit, most just don't want to be fired.

The nice guys who give up easily find themselves unemployed fairly quickly.

Don't correct them. If anything, make out that you're not in charge of services because it is arranged by your landlord. So what if that's all lies, I've found that it stops many of them calling back, which goes to prove there is data collection

It's not really data collection (well... maybe in the sense that they're collection the data of saying no ), it's just them removing you from the calls list. If you're not responsive to the call or can't take the service for whatever reason you get a note attatched to your file that takes you off the call list. Most places would later remove you from the database entirely, but not all.

There's no point wasting time on someone who gives a firm no.

I only know the UK system in call centres I've worked in... andonly one of them wasn't entirely above board...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Does the UK not have a do-not-call list which should prevent these kinds of calls from ever occurring in the first place?

 

[jamestyler]

Does the UK not have a do-not-call list which should prevent these kinds of calls from ever occurring in the first place?

There's a register you can add yourself to. Most think that as soon as they've registered they're immediately off every list, which isn't the case. It means you're off every list created or checked after you've registered.

So if you get added March 5th 2007 and company X bought their data June 2002, we'll still call you. Most think shouting and screaming down the phone and making threats is the best way to deal with it - but as soon as you tell the callmonkey that you're on it - they'll apologise, hang up and enter that into your file which will remove you from the call list and flag the number for checking/permanent deletion.

I can't say if that's entirely legal, I can't remember the laws exactly and law often changes - but that's what happens and how it's worked everywhere I've been with.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Does the UK not have a do-not-call list which should prevent these kinds of calls from ever occurring in the first place?

There's a register you can add yourself to. Most think that as soon as they've registered they're immediately off every list, which isn't the case. It means you're off every list created or checked after you've registered.

Hmm. That's not the way ours works. In the US, it makes you off-limits for good, even if a company's mailing list was created before you registered for do-not-call.

 

[cultcross]

Does the UK not have a do-not-call list which should prevent these kinds of calls from ever occurring in the first place?

There's a register you can add yourself to. Most think that as soon as they've registered they're immediately off every list, which isn't the case. It means you're off every list created or checked after you've registered.

Hmm. That's not the way ours works. In the US, it makes you off-limits for good, even if a company's mailing list was created before you registered for do-not-call.

Then how is the company supposed to know?

 

[jamestyler]

Hmm. That's not the way ours works. In the US, it makes you off-limits for good, even if a company's mailing list was created before you registered for do-not-call.

Thanks to never throwing anything out, I found notes I made from a temp call center job a couple of years ago. It may be a couple of years out of date, unsure if they've changed anything since I last worked in one of these places...

Once registered with TPS companies have up to 28 days to remove the listed information from their data. Some info slips through the net, as above if it happens, tell them they're in the wrong and they'll make sure you're removed. You can make a complaint but a company will only face action if they do it intentionally or repeatedly.

But I do remember such insane things as having collected data from years ago and them still being on te database - as above. From memory that's happened most often when the number previously belonged to another person or they moved. I can only theorise that such differences between the TPS data and the company data left them on the lists.

The annoying thing is... I remember working for Sky and people would shout and scream down the phones about us cold calling. They seemed to forget that they're Sky customers and we want them to pay their bills.

Then how is the company supposed to know?

They regularly check their data against the registry.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

There's a register you can add yourself to. Most think that as soon as they've registered they're immediately off every list, which isn't the case. It means you're off every list created or checked after you've registered.

Hmm. That's not the way ours works. In the US, it makes you off-limits for good, even if a company's mailing list was created before you registered for do-not-call.

Then how is the company supposed to know?

Easy. In the U.S. they are required to update their list every 30 or 60 days, I can't remember which. I haven't received a telemarketing call in 5 years,

A company in Las Vegas had violate the law so many times that that they were eligible for fines of $3.3 billion and no I'm not kidding.

http://www.articlearchives.com/law-legal-system/trial-procedure-suits-claims/967374-1.html

These tactics by the British phone companies remind me of the tactics used here by Sprint in MCI in the 80's and 90's and they were shut down.

 

[cultcross]

To be fair, the British version fo the 'opt-out list' has been very successful for me - I think I get about two telemarketing calls a year, tops. And they are those irritating recorded messages which tell me I've won a holiday to Skegness if I ring this premium rate number at £50/min.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

To be fair, the British version fo the 'opt-out list' has been very successful for me - I think I get about two telemarketing calls a year, tops. And they are those irritating recorded messages which tell me I've won a holiday to Skegness if I ring this premium rate number at £50/min.

That's still two more per year than I get.

Still, that's a pretty good record.

 

[cultcross]

Telemarketing ceases to be annoying once it falls below the rate of normal 'wrong number' calls. Why does everyone being chased by creditors in Bristol seem to give them my number?

 

[Captain Shaw]

What i want to know is that for cold callers to exist someone must be buying from them.
Who the hell are these people.

 

[jamestyler]

What i want to know is that for cold callers to exist someone must be buying from them.
Who the hell are these people.

I used to call them the weak, and they were my prey

Some products sold that way can be good though. Cheaper energy suppliers are the best example I can think of (even if one old man said 'your cheep gas doesn't keep me as warm as the expensive stuff') and some products that may seem ridiculous to most such as personal accident insurance can end up being beneficial to others who may just need something like that in their line of work.