Unwanted Marketing Calls

J

Jorumian

Facilitator
Sep 1, 2008
347
3
0
Birkenhead
Hi Guys,

If anyone has any advice I'd appreciate it.

A financial services company has somehow procured our home phone and my wifes mobile number. I can only assume it has come from the comparison websites we have used.

Despite my wife telling them we do not require their services, me telling them we do not require their services and also sending them an email telling them to stop contacting us, we have received over 20 phone calls over the past few days and it is driving us potty.

They have just called again, literally 2 minutes ago, and I again repeated that we do not want them to contact us, we do not require any of their services and that if they do not stop contacting us I will report them to the ombudsman.

Is there anything else I can do get them to stop calling? I have told them our home number is registered on the TPS and home calls seem to have stopped. However my wife is still receiving all her calls on her mobile and I believe this is a nuisance call. Especially when she is at work trying to teach when she switches her phone on she has 11 missed calls.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Oh, and the company is Churchwood Financial Services. I have no idea how they got our details, but a quick look online shows me that we are not alone in suffering this relentless barrage of calls & texts.
 
Tony

Tony

What Consumer Founder
Apr 7, 2008
18,307
3
38
Bolton
Cold callgin

I had two call yesterday one about switching utility suppliers the other about loans, these were done using random? autodialler and they hung up as soon as I asked who they were.

You should report them to the Information Commissioner and I believe Ofcom can take action, but it needs people to complain.

It might be worth speaking to the telephone operator to see if they can do anything.

Tony
 
J

Jorumian

Facilitator
Sep 1, 2008
347
3
0
Birkenhead
Thanks Tony,

I will be making a complaint and also pointing them to a few ratings sites where people have posted complaints very similar to mine.

I can be annoying, consistent and belligerent to at times. Especially when, for once, I am in the right!

Thanks for the advice

Ian
 
Tony

Tony

What Consumer Founder
Apr 7, 2008
18,307
3
38
Bolton
Consumer Proections Legislations

And another thing, they are probably in breach of the consumer protection regulations, so you can report them to your local Trading Standards office. I think these are desperate times and more and more companies will be tempted to do things like this.

3. Aggressive Sales Tactics

When buying an electrical product we are frequently confronted with the option to buy additional insurance policies in the form of extended warranties. Sales staff can get generous commission for convincing us to part with more cash through the sale of these policies and this has led to aggressive sales tactics. The regulations aim to stamp out such practices if they are considered to impair your freedom of choice or limit your ability to make an informed decision. This includes harassment, coercion, persistence, threatening or abusive language, exploitation of misfortune or specific circumstances. It also includes retailers’ standing in the way of your contractual or consumer right to terminate a contract or switch to another product. However you must also prove that the way you were treated led you to make a purchase decision you would not otherwise have made
Click to expand...
From: Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 | Consumer Information
 
J

Jorumian

Facilitator
Sep 1, 2008
347
3
0
Birkenhead
You see, that's why I love this place...

My only concern is that they have not made us make a purchase we otherwise did not want... However a letter of complaint is a letter of complaint and even if nothing can be done, it should sit on record against them.

Oddly enough, since my rather perfunctory outburst this morning we have not had a single call on mobile or home phone (they were coming at least once an hour over the past two days on mobile). I'll be interested to see if it starts up again though.

Whether it does or doesn't however. I'm still making the complaints.

My wife was so annoyed and upset by it she wanted to change her mobile phone number to avoid them.
 
Chutzpah

Chutzpah

Moderator
Jan 9, 2009
618
1
0
twitter.com
Complain, but you could also say "bear with me, someone is just at the door, I'll be right back" and then go and make (and enjoy) a cuppa!
 
T

temi

Premium Member
Apr 28, 2008
69
0
0
London
www.temi.co.uk
Chutzpah said:
Complain, but you could also say "bear with me, someone is just at the door, I'll be right back" and then go and make (and enjoy) a cuppa!
Click to expand...
This is my favorite way of getting rid of those who would not get off the phone after telling them nicely that I am not interested, I say 'okay, tell me more but I need to go and turn off the heat on my cooking' I come back in 20 minutes or so to replace the handset :)
 
W

Witch consumer

Moderator
Sep 8, 2008
1,593
3
0
Debtors retreat
Mot telephone providers have answers to these problems, BT's 'Choose to Refuse' stops all calls from non specific area calls (08 09 numbers) and 'Call Barring' lets you block specific numbers, including the last number that called you. Sky also provide similar services (not sure about mobiles tho).

You have to pay a small amount for the services but it's worth it for a quiet life and its paid with your bills so easier than paying £100 for a plug in device.

By law, companies have to ask for your permission to share your personal details (except your local council who can sell their electoral roll info to anyone they wish) so always look out for the little check box to stop them doing so.

Anyway my favourite is to put the receiver right net to the TV so they can listen to the football commentary while they are working.
 
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J

Jez

Consumer
Jun 14, 2008
17
1
0
I think you will also need "Anonymous Call Reject" which brings the total to £6.19 per month

Protect your privacy with BT's home phone security features

The problem with the BT service is that it will not stop calls when the status is "unavailable" or "international", so cold calls from overseas will still get through.

The problem with the device, although not 100% is that it will only work with one extension.
 
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