Dear LPG, 

Do you remember when you could learn all sorts of information from the internet by filling in an online form?  We have all learned a lot more about cookies in the last couple of years and know that they need to be taken into consideration these days but, as few as five years ago, you would put a bit of data into an online form, and the answer to many questions would be calculated and on the screen within a couple of minutes.  Now the answer is preceded with a form demanding all sorts of personal information, including your telephone number or email address, which identifies you.  Then the floodgates are open and you are bombarded with emails and telephone calls. 

I suppose that some websites still work in the old fashioned way, but I think that it is getting harder to find out the price of some items without obligation.

The other day my aunt and I were looking at the feasibility of getting a bath lift and we had no difficulty finding the many companies who offer this service online.  We clicked on one hoping to get a very general idea of cost and within a couple of seconds up popped the online chat box.  I found it refreshing that there was no need to fill in your telephone number or email address before they would talk, and the online advisor sent the message introducing herself.  My reply asked about the average cost of the item they were advertising but the answer came back… they couldn’t possibly tell me that without sending a salesman to visit.  While waiting for that reply we noticed the telephone number so I wrote thank you and decided to telephone instead.

When I did that I got the same response and, even though I asked for an idea of the maximum possible cost the advisor could not comment unless they sent a representative to visit.  We declined, said goodbye and thank you, and hung up.  The thing that I had not taken into consideration is that they now had my mobile phone number and less than two minutes later I received a call from someone else representing that company who told me that she had rung to arrange an appointment to visit. 

I understood that the new rules about such telephone calls were put in place last year and are designed to make it more difficult for companies to target private telephone subscribers, unless they are approached by that consumer first and in my experience the nuisance calls are still coming thick and fast. 

I did not take into consideration that all the calls that I receive in the future from that company will not be seen as those from cold callers, because I called them first. 

What is the alternative?

VM, Dulwich

LPG understands that the new cold calling laws did not actually ban them.  We found some official information, and share it below…

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