Dear LPG,

When you pick up your phone these days to phone your bank, the council, an insurance company or shop, in fact most calls that you make to an organisation as opposed to a friend or family member, you know that you are in for a lengthy recorded message before you get anywhere near being able to talk to an actual person if at all, but have you noticed just how many more of those recordings warn you that your call will be recorded?

That statement is usually followed by the purpose that they feel they need to do this but did you know that unless you tell them that you are also taping the call, you can get into a bit of trouble.

As I get older remembering can become a bit of a problem and so much is said during a business telephone call these days that it is really hard to take it all in.  Mobile phones and Dictaphones can really help you to remember what was said and when, and making notes is that much easier if you can replay the details. 

I find that when I am on the phone and advised to jot notes down, like the reference number of the call, how much my current electricity bill is or when I next need to pay an insurance premium, juggling the phone as well as trying to keep the note pad still and putting pen to paper legibly at the same time is not always a successful way to make sure you can remember the facts because I often can’t read my relatively shaky handwriting after the telephone call is finished.

But I recently found an online article which explains that there is some good news.  It is not illegal to make such a recording.  The crime is potentially committed when you let the person you recorded or someone else hear that recording unless they know that you made it, or if you try to use it as proof of what was said.  The secret is to remember to tell the person that you talk to that you will be recording the conversation too, which gives them the option to tell you that they don’t want that to happen, and most advisors realise that there is little point in objecting if their employers are taping the conversation anyway.  I suggest that you make sure that your recordings start with you letting them know what you are about to do.

JF, Bellingham.

JF shares the article he found…

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