Legal Evasions

I pick up the phone, and a voice tells me that "I'm phoning on behalf of Television Direct. Do you rent your television or video?" Now I'm registered with the telephone preference service, so in theory this unsolicited marketing call is illegal. The problem is that identifying the company is almost impossible, making the law difficult to enforce.

Before the TPS can act on a complaint, they need to identify the company involved. Unfortunately, the companies tend to lie about their identity, and won't give out contact details. Dialling 1471 invariably shows that the number was withheld. In this case, I asked several times for a telephone number, and eventually the girl asked a colleague what she should do. The reply came "How long have you worked here? Hang up." Which she did. In fact the only organisation (other than the marketing company themselves) who should know the number is British Telecom.

So I contacted BT, and after being passed through several people I finally found out the procedure for complaining about someone hiding illegal marketing calls behind a withheld number. Are you ready? First you dial 0800 411 422, to speak to the nuisance calls bureau. They will on request place a trace on your line for four weeks. Then, you can report a marketing call to BT by dialling 1477 after the call finishes. Then, you write to Ofcom to complain - not the TPS, as they aren't allowed to ask about withheld numbers. If Ofcom decides to investigate, they will ask BT for the numbers, and can then take action against the offending company.

No wonder these companies feel that they can avoid the law by withholding their numbers. The procedure for complaining is difficult to discover, time consuming and irritating to perform, and misses out the organisation whose specific responsibility it is to enforce the law. If I wasn't so familiar with government stupidity, I'd almost think that the law was meant to be evaded.

The central problem is that the law and/or the regulators allow both the public to opt out from all unsolicited marketing calls and all marketing companies to hide behind a withheld number. There are many reasons for allowing individuals to hide their numbers, but it is less clear why companies should be similarly blessed. I have difficulty believing that there is any reason that an honest company would want to hide from its customers. While there are significant technical problems, the easiest solution would simply be to disallow companies from withholding their numbers.

In this corporate ruled world, simple is not always best. No obvious reason to allow does not necessarily translate into changing the rules. It seems safe to assume that the simple path will not be followed, and companies will retain their right to withhold their numbers. In that case, what is needed is an easier system to allow the public to complain about companies that are operating without regard to the law. Instead of the current mechanism, BT (and the other telephone companies) should provide a standard system. This should assign to the last telephone call a unique code. When a report is passed to the TPS, this code can be passed instead of the telephone number. The TPS could then use the code to acquire the phone number from BT.

Such a system would be much easier for the public, making it much more likely that misbehaving companies will actually be reported. Without such a system, those who abuse their ability to withhold their number will continue to do so with near impunity.

Graham Robinson. 12th May 2004.

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