Silent calls fine comes into force
28 September 2010, 06:19 PM
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Silent calls fine comes into force
A new power to fine companies up to £2 million for using predictive dialling systems to harass their customers will start being enforced from tomorrow.
By Jennifer Scott, 24 Sep 2010 at 10:59
Call centres using predictive dialling systems to contact customers could face fines of up to £2 million as of tomorrow, thanks to new Government legislation.
The silent or abandoned calls consumers often get from companies were already considered a problem and fines of up to £50,000 could be imposed.
However, the new Government has upped this limit by 40 times to drive the message home to businesses using this tactic.
Ed Vaizey, minister for communications, said: “Silent calls are incredibly unnerving, particularly for the elderly and those who live alone.”
“Government will not stand by and let firms plague consumers without consequence which is why we have made the maximum penalty for silent calls 40 times larger to reflect the seriousness of the issue.”
The move has received the support of Ofcom, which will be responsible for enforcing the fines and trying to discourage companies resorting to such methods.
Ed Richards, chief executive (CEO) of the regulator, said: “The increase reflects the potential seriousness of the harm caused to consumers by the unsolicited and intrusive nature of silent and abandoned calls and enables Ofcom to regulate these activities more effectively.”
By Jennifer Scott, 24 Sep 2010 at 10:59
Call centres using predictive dialling systems to contact customers could face fines of up to £2 million as of tomorrow, thanks to new Government legislation.
The silent or abandoned calls consumers often get from companies were already considered a problem and fines of up to £50,000 could be imposed.
However, the new Government has upped this limit by 40 times to drive the message home to businesses using this tactic.
Ed Vaizey, minister for communications, said: “Silent calls are incredibly unnerving, particularly for the elderly and those who live alone.”
“Government will not stand by and let firms plague consumers without consequence which is why we have made the maximum penalty for silent calls 40 times larger to reflect the seriousness of the issue.”
The move has received the support of Ofcom, which will be responsible for enforcing the fines and trying to discourage companies resorting to such methods.
Ed Richards, chief executive (CEO) of the regulator, said: “The increase reflects the potential seriousness of the harm caused to consumers by the unsolicited and intrusive nature of silent and abandoned calls and enables Ofcom to regulate these activities more effectively.”
Long over due.
.
28 September 2010, 10:03 PM
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28 September 2010, 10:08 PM
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28 September 2010, 10:41 PM
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I operate a strict policy of never answering the house phone. With two women in the house, it's never for me anyway 
And never answering unidentified calls to my mobile 
This way, I've not spoken to a foreigner for over a year
And never answering unidentified calls to my mobile This way, I've not spoken to a foreigner for over a year
28 September 2010, 10:55 PM
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Don't laugh ... it could have be this Italian ringin' for a huggin' ...
http://www.davidmandrack.com/images/...20a%20stud.jpg
http://www.davidmandrack.com/images/...20a%20stud.jpg
28 September 2010, 10:58 PM
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Don't laugh ... it could have be this Italian ringin' for a huggin' ...
http://www.davidmandrack.com/images/...20a%20stud.jpg
http://www.davidmandrack.com/images/...20a%20stud.jpg
I detest silent calls almost as much as foreign call centre workers. Not wanting to offend anyone, but why on earth would I want to discuss anything financial or offers with someone I cannot understand
29 September 2010, 10:04 AM
#15
I kinda work in this area (on a technical side rather than compliance).
Most UK companies are concerned about silent calls and do actively try to prevent it. But they also openly admit to running their call centre's at full tilt, so they will dial more calls than they have agents on seats to answer. It's the same as the airlines/plane seats trick. They know that some calls will end up as number unobtainable, no answer or answer machine. So they try to monitor the failure rate and plan accordingly. But it doesn't always happen and occasionally you'll get silent calls. It's obviously more efficient having your agents making money than talking to an answer machine or a busy tone.
Another issue is that their IT/telephone systems may need some processing time after the call is answered (for example routing the call to an agent with the right skills to talk to you and also to display your account on the agents screen). That is a complex process and if it fails sometimes the dialer doesn't know what to do with the call. A well designed call centre should deal with this, but you can see where costs can be cut (reduce the error handling functions).
I believe that the spec's say that a UK company must give out a dialable CLI that a caller can call back to. You are within your rights to dial back (or even if you talk to an agent first time) and request you are removed from the dialer list.
Also the rules state a UK based company, even if they used off shore dialers, must abide by the rules in the UK. I know of some banks that use offshoring, but essentially they dial back through their internal telephony network and only break out in the UK. Of course that won't stop companies with absolutely no UK presence.
The UK has some of the most strict rules for dialers globally. It's a lot worse for the rest of the EU and US where the rules are a lot looser.
I believe some of the new rules include a feature that allow for a "no agents available" scenario, whereby they can route to an automated message that states who the caller is and why they are calling. Not much better I suppose, but at least it's not a silent call.
I'm on TPS and ex directory, but I think there are some get out clauses that say completely random dialing is allowed (ie they just dial a string of numbers), hence you'll still get the odd call. But I think that the returns on this are very low hence it's not used much.
Most UK companies are concerned about silent calls and do actively try to prevent it. But they also openly admit to running their call centre's at full tilt, so they will dial more calls than they have agents on seats to answer. It's the same as the airlines/plane seats trick. They know that some calls will end up as number unobtainable, no answer or answer machine. So they try to monitor the failure rate and plan accordingly. But it doesn't always happen and occasionally you'll get silent calls. It's obviously more efficient having your agents making money than talking to an answer machine or a busy tone.
Another issue is that their IT/telephone systems may need some processing time after the call is answered (for example routing the call to an agent with the right skills to talk to you and also to display your account on the agents screen). That is a complex process and if it fails sometimes the dialer doesn't know what to do with the call. A well designed call centre should deal with this, but you can see where costs can be cut (reduce the error handling functions).
I believe that the spec's say that a UK company must give out a dialable CLI that a caller can call back to. You are within your rights to dial back (or even if you talk to an agent first time) and request you are removed from the dialer list.
Also the rules state a UK based company, even if they used off shore dialers, must abide by the rules in the UK. I know of some banks that use offshoring, but essentially they dial back through their internal telephony network and only break out in the UK. Of course that won't stop companies with absolutely no UK presence.
The UK has some of the most strict rules for dialers globally. It's a lot worse for the rest of the EU and US where the rules are a lot looser.
I believe some of the new rules include a feature that allow for a "no agents available" scenario, whereby they can route to an automated message that states who the caller is and why they are calling. Not much better I suppose, but at least it's not a silent call.
I'm on TPS and ex directory, but I think there are some get out clauses that say completely random dialing is allowed (ie they just dial a string of numbers), hence you'll still get the odd call. But I think that the returns on this are very low hence it's not used much.
Last edited by Miniman; 29 September 2010 at 10:06 AM.
29 September 2010, 12:19 PM
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Thank ****, one of the most annoying things I find is having to get out of the bath or stop doing something your busy with to answer one of these calls and the phone and for it to go dead on you, this should have been done years ago when it started.
29 September 2010, 12:43 PM
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29 September 2010, 03:24 PM
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Very glad to see that. It is all wrong that these plonkers are able to bother us in our homes when all we want is a bit of peace.
If I am interested in a product, I will ring up about it and if not, I just don't want to know!
Les
If I am interested in a product, I will ring up about it and if not, I just don't want to know!
Les
29 September 2010, 04:55 PM
#21
This isn't going to stop silent calls, it's just an increase in the fine for those who abuse their systems. As mentioned above about the reasons why, a lot of companies use automated dialling equipment for routine customer service calls, not just sales.
The biggest issue will be those who choose not to abide by the rules anyway. If they don't present a number, then you have no way of tracing the company to complain, and most of those will be operating from abroad.
The biggest issue will be those who choose not to abide by the rules anyway. If they don't present a number, then you have no way of tracing the company to complain, and most of those will be operating from abroad.
29 September 2010, 09:31 PM
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I kinda work in this area (on a technical side rather than compliance).
Most UK companies are concerned about silent calls and do actively try to prevent it. But they also openly admit to running their call centre's at full tilt, so they will dial more calls than they have agents on seats to answer. It's the same as the airlines/plane seats trick. They know that some calls will end up as number unobtainable, no answer or answer machine. So they try to monitor the failure rate and plan accordingly. But it doesn't always happen and occasionally you'll get silent calls. It's obviously more efficient having your agents making money than talking to an answer machine or a busy tone.
Another issue is that their IT/telephone systems may need some processing time after the call is answered (for example routing the call to an agent with the right skills to talk to you and also to display your account on the agents screen). That is a complex process and if it fails sometimes the dialer doesn't know what to do with the call. A well designed call centre should deal with this, but you can see where costs can be cut (reduce the error handling functions).
I believe that the spec's say that a UK company must give out a dialable CLI that a caller can call back to. You are within your rights to dial back (or even if you talk to an agent first time) and request you are removed from the dialer list.
Also the rules state a UK based company, even if they used off shore dialers, must abide by the rules in the UK. I know of some banks that use offshoring, but essentially they dial back through their internal telephony network and only break out in the UK. Of course that won't stop companies with absolutely no UK presence.
The UK has some of the most strict rules for dialers globally. It's a lot worse for the rest of the EU and US where the rules are a lot looser.
I believe some of the new rules include a feature that allow for a "no agents available" scenario, whereby they can route to an automated message that states who the caller is and why they are calling. Not much better I suppose, but at least it's not a silent call.
I'm on TPS and ex directory, but I think there are some get out clauses that say completely random dialing is allowed (ie they just dial a string of numbers), hence you'll still get the odd call. But I think that the returns on this are very low hence it's not used much.
Most UK companies are concerned about silent calls and do actively try to prevent it. But they also openly admit to running their call centre's at full tilt, so they will dial more calls than they have agents on seats to answer. It's the same as the airlines/plane seats trick. They know that some calls will end up as number unobtainable, no answer or answer machine. So they try to monitor the failure rate and plan accordingly. But it doesn't always happen and occasionally you'll get silent calls. It's obviously more efficient having your agents making money than talking to an answer machine or a busy tone.
Another issue is that their IT/telephone systems may need some processing time after the call is answered (for example routing the call to an agent with the right skills to talk to you and also to display your account on the agents screen). That is a complex process and if it fails sometimes the dialer doesn't know what to do with the call. A well designed call centre should deal with this, but you can see where costs can be cut (reduce the error handling functions).
I believe that the spec's say that a UK company must give out a dialable CLI that a caller can call back to. You are within your rights to dial back (or even if you talk to an agent first time) and request you are removed from the dialer list.
Also the rules state a UK based company, even if they used off shore dialers, must abide by the rules in the UK. I know of some banks that use offshoring, but essentially they dial back through their internal telephony network and only break out in the UK. Of course that won't stop companies with absolutely no UK presence.
The UK has some of the most strict rules for dialers globally. It's a lot worse for the rest of the EU and US where the rules are a lot looser.
I believe some of the new rules include a feature that allow for a "no agents available" scenario, whereby they can route to an automated message that states who the caller is and why they are calling. Not much better I suppose, but at least it's not a silent call.
I'm on TPS and ex directory, but I think there are some get out clauses that say completely random dialing is allowed (ie they just dial a string of numbers), hence you'll still get the odd call. But I think that the returns on this are very low hence it's not used much.
cheers,
mb
29 September 2010, 11:31 PM
#24
The only thing you can try is to block withheld number calls. Not 100% sure whether that works with international. There may be a charge for that service as well.
30 September 2010, 12:39 AM
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I phoned them back and told them cheque was posted 24th Sept and promptly closed the account. Told them, if I get one more call, I report them for harrassment.
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