Firmer regulations demanded for telemarketing companies

The latest Which? campaign found seven out of ten consumers had been cold called in the last three months, with two-fifths receiving unsolicited texts.

Dave Ogden from Aspect Software welcomed the call to toughen up the regulations, but highlighted that the problem primarily stems from young and inexperienced companies that exploit loopholes.

“The companies who have been doing this for years and have seen the changing faces of Oftel, Ofcom and the DMA aren’t to blame for this,” Ogden said.

“We’re talking about a small minority of companies – primarily those spawned by and taking advantage of a problem economy – that are causing the majority of the excess and unwanted contact. These young companies, which the media is reporting are PPI claims firms, ambulance chasers, etc., take advantage of regulation loopholes and at best deploy a scatter-gun approach to contacting prospective customers, rather than laser-focused interactions with those most likely to want to buy from them.”

“Cold calling is experiencing a revival due to consumer uncertainty in the economy. There are more companies wanting to make money out of Joe Bloggs’ accident, or John Smith’s unfair bank charges, but it has undone the good work of the last few years of the responsible 95% that value customer engagement and ensuring it is absolutely relevant, targeted and watertight. These companies don’t work on segmenting lists; they’re playing a pure numbers game. Stack ’em and pack ’em,” Ogden commented.

He continued: “Organisations such as the Telephone Preference Service go some way in reducing the problem by enabling consumers to opt out of contact, but there are too many easy loopholes to exploit. For instance, if you deal with Company A and it sells your details to Company B, you then have a relationship – albeit tenuous – with Company B and they are able to contact you. Consumers can also ask to be removed from call lists, but you need to take the call in the first place. Until loopholes can be closed, the best advice for consumers is the simplest, and is often forgotten; actually read the small print whenever you provide your details to anyone. Check whether that tick box should be marked or unmarked to stop the company passing your details on, and it should at least reduce the number of nuisance calls you receive.”

Ogden concluded: “These companies won’t stop and will continue to run until regulation is watertight or hefty fines begin to be handed out. With some talk about drawing a line underneath PPI claims deadlines in the near future, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, but until then, it’s a bit of a self-cleanse exercise for most people.”