November 07, 2006
Silent calls and the Telephone Preference Service
If you, like us, have been plagued with the phone ringing, and then the line going dead, you will be intrigued by an item of news. Carphone Warehouse "may be fined for silent calls" announces the Watchdog Ofcom. Apparently these dead calls are the result of auto-dialling software which generates calls quicker than the call centre drones can service them.
This news is baffling. We have used the Telephone Preference Service to opt out of receiving sales calls. This opt-out appears to have had no effect whatsoever. Still the calls come. A page on the telephone preference website explains that this registration does not protect you from silent calls. Why? What is the difference between a sales call and an attempted sales call which fails? Elsewhere the telephone preference service apologises that "The Telephone Preference Service are happy to offer a complaint handling service as a value added service, however we are not the body responsible for enforcement and we are unable to take action against companies complained about". The Telephone Preference Service shares an address with the Direct Marketing Association. It says: "No money is received from the Government to run the Service, the direct marketing industry pays for it."
So to summarise: the Direct Marketing industry pays for a junk call opt-out service which
a) doesn't work
b) they don't enforce
c) doesn't stop "silent calls"
Ofcom already allows 3% of marketing calls to be silent calls, we are told. This is an amazing fact. Again: why? What on earth justifies a sales company phoning a random number and then letting the line go dead? Imagine that you are an elderly person, whose phone doesn't ring very often. You cross the room to answer a ringing phone. Then silence. It is spooky, it is upsetting. If a teenager did it, you would think them weird, "abusive". Done by a large corporation, apparently, it is OK.
Ofcom - we are told - is "considering" fining Carphone Warehouse. CW has until December to "make representations". My hunch is that CW will spend several tens of thousands of pounds in executive time simply preparing their case. How much can Ofcom fine them? £50,000 maximum. It is a pathetic gesture, given the vast quantities of calls that are being made in this way.
Posted by Mark at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
