Cold call bosses could be forced to cough up under new rules The UK government is planning to make company directors personally liable for nuisance calls – two years after it first promised the powers to the data protection watchdog. At the moment, the Information Commissioner's Office can only hand out fines to companies that make spam marketing calls. Under the new plan, announced …
Why put it in the PECR? Surely any director that has committed fraud not covered by criminal law (pilfering pensions etc..) should also be made to be liable after closing a company to avoid returning money.
Also, the director (who we know are scumbags anyway) will transfer wealth to a family member and declare bankruptcy. They are happy to be disqualified as a director so it shouldn't really bother them.
"Remember that simply putting up someone else as a front is an offence that can carry a gaol sentence."
Snigger. First you have to prove it in court. "Just because the new company is owned by my wife and is renting the same office as my old outfit, doesn't mean I have any involvement in the running of the new company, Your Honour."
And of course the authorities have to have enough resources to investigate all these shonks. In Australia a royal commission is uncovering all kinds of horrors in the banking and superannuation industries, and the government have cut $20 million out of the regulator's funds in the latest budget.
Cheese straws don't suck.
But they go very soggy when dipped in the pulp of a director's brain.
Who dips cheese straws? You want celery, sticks of carrot, a nice spicy tortilla or those nasty biscuits that come with (plastic)cheese dip.
Snacking on a lot of Directors lately? It can be known to cause something like Mad Cows disease you know....
- Soylent Green Corp. Health Advisory.
This post has been deleted by its author
"Cheese straws don't suck."
A Bristol restaurant is replacing one-use plastic straws with pasta ones.
I can’t help feeling that tougher sanctions on cold calling companies (and the people behind them), while always welcome is kind of missing the point.
What we need are sanctions against companies who seek to *benefit* from the cold-calling, which is to say the ones who commission, pay for, and who’s products and services are promoted by cold-calling. Quite apart from anything else it gives a much easier, more effective recourse against cold-calling originated from overseas. The call centre may be in India but, if it’s promoting/selling something in the UK then there has to be a traceable entity taking the money and supplying the goods and services...
"What we need are sanctions against companies who seek to *benefit* from the cold-calling, which is to say the ones who commission, pay for, and who’s products and services are promoted by cold-calling"
Someone did that to some PPI lawyers. They got fed up of cold callers, and so they played along until they found out the name of the solicitors they were acting on behalf of, and filed a small claims summons against them for the maximum claimable amount. The solicitors settled just before the case was called, if I remember correctly (and their letter of complaint is freely available somewhere online).
Isn't that technically there anyway?
There is a bit of law, dating from the 1870s, that is still relevant today. It's called "Agency Law" - it essentially means that a company is responsible for the action of its agents.
The ICO has previously found in my favour when a UK based financial services company has used an opaque marketing company based outside the UK to try and sell me sub-prime credit card.
The calls come from abroad from different (random?) phone numbers
A good start would be severe restrictions on who can set the number displayed by CLI and what numbers they can set it to.
Just about the only non-people (ie organisations) who should be able to withhold it should be: child line, samaritans & the clap clinic.
"A good start would be severe restrictions on who can set the number displayed by CLI and what numbers they can set it to.
All the cold calls I get have a CLI of "international". It appears that the call centre - obviously staffed in the UK - is relaying through another country. Annoying as I have international friends who occasionally ring me.
Another commentard has made the apparently sensible suggestion - fine the companies who act on the leads. All the calls I get would entail a UK company providing the touted service - usually oven cleaning or double-glazing.
All the cold calls I get have a CLI of "international". It appears that the call centre - obviously staffed in the UK - is relaying through another country.
I am sure you are aware that there are call centers in India that are staffed with people trained to speak with a given accent. It is usually done for debt collection as it was seen that talking as the neighbour next door helps in that regard, but may be done for other kind of business too.
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