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Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#21

Post by bediger4000 »

The US Do Not Call list seemed pretty good at cutting the number of cold calls substantially. The remaining cold calls are clearly illegal (in the US). This situation seems vaguely like the Tragedy of the Commons to me. I've decided to listen all the way through the recording speech - these evil psychos can only have a finite number of interactive response units, so monopolizing one of the for as long as possible cuts down on the number of calls they can make. I also attempt to engage the human operators for as long as possible. The evil psychos making these calls clearly have a smallish number of human operators. Wasting their time is even more important. I've actually been able to transport my cell phone to the restroom and flush the toilet in a human operato's ear several time.

No, I don't think that the human operators deserve civility, manners or any kind of polite treatment. They know that what they do is at best marginally legal, and very probably illegal, yet the keep doing it. They've violated the social contract, not me. They can suffer through whatever they can tolerate.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#22

Post by mootothemax »

Is the only real solution to only accept calls from a phone number whitelist?

The regulatory problem I can't work out how to solve is that of foreign companies attempting to scam people, e.g. the variations on "I'm calling from Microsoft, your computer has a virus..."

If you can only take action against companies based in your country, what's the next step?

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#24

Post by mhurron »

Hates_ wrote: post #23

So when does a "customer development call" become a cold call? As a small startup trying to talk to potential customers how does this affect me? All these books on startups talk about picking up the phone and talking to people.

Did you have a prior relationship with these people? Did they somehow indicate they would be involved in your marketing actions?

No? Then it's probably a cold call and you're just annoying people.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#25

Post by bkor »

kodis wrote: post #20

It seems as though at least for smart phones this could be easily solved through technological means similar to those used for screening email, something along the lines of a spam classification system. I envision my phone having a white list of known good numbers, which would be allowed to cause my phone to ring like it does now; a black list of known bad numbers, which would be immediately dropped; and a catch-all…

Why go for the technical option is the legal one is far more effective?

In my country hospitals (and so on call) from an "unknown" number. So blocking that is a bit dangerous. There's a general "do not cold call" list and if you get a cold call while being on that the company behind it can get a hefty fine per call that they make.

There's an government organization which checks if companies abide to this (and a few other things). They seem to enjoy going after companies and fining them. Which is probably why I don't get any cold calls.

Note: Obviously there are all kinds of rules, etc. E.g. once you add yourself to the cold call list, there's 6 week grace period (as companies are allowed to only update their do-not-call list every so often). Though at the same time, even if you're not on the country's do not call list you can still ask to be put on the list for the company calling you. It is mandatory for a company to do that. Else the company will get a fine. There's different rules for companies which have or had a business relationship with you.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#26

Post by eli »

lylebarrere wrote: post #3

The Do Not Call database in the US has never been effective because the type of company making these spammy calls doesn't care if they are breaking the law. There is no enforcement effort to track them down.

It stopped the vast majority of cold calls from legitimate companies. So all that's left is people running scams who don't care about the law.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#27

Post by dazc »

Hates_ wrote: post #23

So when does a "customer development call" become a cold call? As a small startup trying to talk to potential customers how does this affect me? All these books on startups talk about picking up the phone and talking to people.

If your call starts:

"Hello Mr Smith and how are you today?" or "...just a quick call" or "...just a courtesy call"

You are annoying people and should stop doing it.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#28

Post by AndrewKemendo »

mhurron wrote: post #24
Hates_ wrote: post #23

So when does a "customer development call" become a cold call? As a small startup trying to talk to potential customers how does this affect me? All these books on startups talk about picking up the phone and talking to people.

Did you have a prior relationship with these people? Did they somehow indicate they would be involved in your marketing actions? No? Then it's probably a cold call and you're just annoying people.

No? Then it's probably a cold call and you're just annoying people.

Sorry but this is naiive. Cold calling works, and not because you are bugging people. You know that "prior relationship" you mention? Well it has to start somewhere and a call is as good as any.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#29

Post by AndrewKemendo »

dazc wrote: post #27
Hates_ wrote: post #23

So when does a "customer development call" become a cold call? As a small startup trying to talk to potential customers how does this affect me? All these books on startups talk about picking up the phone and talking to people.

If your call starts: "Hello Mr Smith and how are you today?" or "...just a quick call" or "...just a courtesy call" You are annoying people and should stop doing it.

What if it starts with something like?:

"Hi I am the founder of a company in your area which has a service that I think might fit your needs..."

or

"I sent you an email recently and wanted to see if you had a chance to look at it..." (assuming you sent them an email)

I feel like there is a way to cold call effectively by picking groups of people who you think would be more receptive and then approaching them as yourself. Aside from that I can't tell you how many first customers I have heard say something like: "they just kept bugging us, so eventually I just had to listen to what they had to say...and we loved it!"

Even if that is 1/50 it's still a huge win.

Re: Clampdown on cold call companies unveiled by government

#30

Post by kodis »

bkor wrote: post #25
kodis wrote: post #20

It seems as though at least for smart phones this could be easily solved through technological means similar to those used for screening email, something along the lines of a spam classification system. I envision my phone having a white list of known good numbers, which would be allowed to cause my phone to ring like it does now; a black list of known bad numbers, which would be immediately dropped; and a catch-all…

Why go for the technical option is the legal one is far more effective? In my country hospitals (and so on call) from an "unknown" number. So blocking that is a bit dangerous. There's a general "do not cold call" list and if you get a cold call while being on that the company behind it can get a hefty fine per call that they make. There's an government organization which checks if companies abide to this (and a few o…

While this will vary from country to country, at least here in the US there are several situations where the legal means are not more effective. The main one is scammers who just don't care, either because they're running a "hit and run" type of operation or because they're operating from overseas. Then there are classes of phone calls which are (again, at least in the US) exempt from the legal "do not call" rules: politicians making campaign calls, and survey firms, which the politicians use to determine who to bother calling. It's a nice loophole that they've constructed for themselves. Luckily it's only a problem for a few month every other year.
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