Thousands of voters who have asked not to be contacted on the phone are being cold-called by campaigners hoping to change the voting system.
And the reason?
A Yes to Fairer Votes phone canvassing guide in Oxfordshire explicitly calls on pro-AV campaigners to ignore phone rules.
It says: ‘Since this is a political campaign, we will be calling people on the caller preference service.
‘If someone asks why they have been called because they normally opt out, explain that [the rule] only applies to those marketing products, and therefore doesn’t apply to us because of the importance of the electoral campaign. If they get angry, end the call politely.’
That’s right, ‘We’re too important to follow the rules.’
The Commissioner may take ‘enforcement action’ against offenders and those affected by cold calling may sue organisations that break the rules.
Will they? Remains to be seen…
Yes campaign sources said they were not aware of the Oxfordshire memo and stopped the cold calling when it was brought to their attention.
A campaign spokesman said: ‘We have been in discussions with the Information Commissioner’s Office as we are anxious to ensure that we comply with the spirit and letter of all regulations regarding the referendum.’
‘Unaware of the Oxfordshire memo’, eh? A likely story…
Easy way around that ... ask the caller to repeat exactly who they are (just to make sure) and once confirmed that they're from the "Yes to Fairer Votes" campaign ..
ReplyDeleteEither blow a whistle or sound an attack alarm down the phone, sufficiently loud enough to be "discouraging" .. bet they won't call again ..
Another good reason to bin the landline. I know one is required for broadband but no-one has to have a phone attached to a phone line do they?
ReplyDeleteWe, as in our entire family, went totally PAYG mobile a year ago and the landline problems have vanished, amazing really.
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ReplyDeleteActually I think the Telephone Preference Service does apply only to Sales calls - it's perfectly legal for MORI (for example) to call people who are on it, because they are doing surveys, not selling stuff.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't mean you have to be polite to these people.
Or, better still, engage them in a long rambling discussion so that they run up their phone bill and can't make a nuisance of themselves to someone who might actually be persuaded.
If you can be bothered.
I suspect some Mainly Fail bollocks here. I"d need to check but I would guess that they are not ignoring the rules as such, but being a political campaign they are actually exempt from the rules. That's certainly the case here as I found when I prepared to bollock the local federal MP's office for lifting the No Junk Mail labelled flap on the mail box and put his campaign crap in there. Weekend Yachtsman's comment makes it sound like the same applies in the UK, and come to think of it we were on the TPS and I still got a call from someone doing market research for VW. As I recall I lied and told her I drove a Golf but wanted a Beetle for the flower holder, and Mrs Exile laughed as I hung up and said they probably marked me down as a poof.
ReplyDeleteWilliam, you don't need a landline for broadband these days. Naked DSL is what you want, and then sign up to a VOIP service for the phone. Much cheaper but the only downside is when your internet service packs up the phone goes with it, which makes it hard to call them about your internet service packing up without a long and expensive mobile call. Still beats paying line rental for an unplugged phone though.
Actually, they are right. the TPS only applies to marketing calls. As this isn't marketing it is exempt - same as those annoying survey calls.
ReplyDeleteI hate cold callers with extreme prejudice. I find yelling "Fuck off!" into the receiver adequately puts my point across. If it's a foreign call centre (you just know by the initial delay) I just lay the receiver down and wait for them to give up.
ReplyDeleteOver here in France I have the ideal way of dealing with the marketing phone calls - ask very nicely in English if I can help them. That is usually greeted with either, a sudden hang up or an apology and a hang up.
ReplyDelete"Another good reason to bin the landline."
ReplyDeleteWhose to say they wouldn't just call your mobile?
"Or, better still, engage them in a long rambling discussion so that they run up their phone bill..."
Only if I'm not paying it out of my taxes!
" I"d need to check but I would guess that they are not ignoring the rules as such, but being a political campaign they are actually exempt from the rules."
The Information Commissioner seems to think they aren't.
"If it's a foreign call centre (you just know by the initial delay) I just lay the receiver down and wait for them to give up."
:D
I wouldn't get too excited about dumping the landline for the mobile. Over the last few months I've had a handful of marketing/scam calls to my mobile that I used to get on my landline.
ReplyDelete