This is the suggested proforma letter (slightly modified) which Oftel advises you send to any company which junk calls you.
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To <Offending company name & address> From: <Your name> <Your address> <Your telephone number> <date> Dear Sir/ Madam, Unsolicited Sales Calls Please note that I do not wish to receive telephone sales calls [or begging calls, as the case may be] from your company. In accordance with Condition 7 of the Self Provision Licence (SPL) and the Telecommunication Services Licence (TSL), under one of which you operate your telephone system, I hereby request you to cease making telephone selling [or begging] calls to me on the above number. In accordance with that Condition, you are obliged to keep a record of this request for inspection by the Director General of Telecommunications. I remind you that failure to comply with the above or persisting in making any more junk 'phone calls to me can result in your being disconnected on the orders of the Director General of Oftel. Yours faithfully, <Your name> |
OK, fine, but how do you get the information needed to send this letter?
Well the easiest way is to ask the junk phone caller at the time they call. But you have to break through the script they are reading and impose your own script.
The first thing to ask is what company they are calling from and get their phone number. Next, get the area or town. With these two items of information, it should be possible later to trace the company. But go ahead. Ask for their address. Be insistent. And remember, at the moment, they are still paying for the call.
The junk phone caller will usually at this stage either hang up or pass you on to a supervisor. Just insist on getting their address and it may help also to ask the name of the person you are now talking to. Then try to get the name of the person at the top of the company, such as the Managing Director. Ask also for the company's fax number so you can just fax the above letter straight back to them. And lastly, you might want to know if they are a member of the so-called 'Telephone Preference Service'. When you send the letter keep a copy.
So what you want is:
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Company name? Their phone number? Their address? Name of person in charge? Their fax number? Member Telephone preference service? |
So they hung up on you without giving the information.
Or worse: You sent the letter and they still junk call you again.
NB Thanks to an EU directive a complete solution to the problem of stopping all junk phone calls and junk faxes from all companies is shortly to be implemented in law (probably January 1999).
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| Junk calls | They hung up | They still call | Telephone preference service | Companies list | Junk faxes |
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