My doorbell rang this afternoon and I was greeted by a smartly dressed lady of Indian subcontinent lineage, saying those dreaded words "It's alright, I'm not selling anything". This is nearly always a sign that they are selling something.
She started by saying that she was just checking I'd got my letter from BT stating the exchange had been upgraded and I could now claim free calls. Now I know we had received no such letter, but I replied that I had received a letter from BT (we had received a bill) , and she seemed slightly confused. I asked who she was calling on behalf of, she replied she was just calling to check that we were getting our free calls. After further discussion, she mentioned that as BT customers we could stay signed up with BT and also sign up for Talk Talk, and she could do that on the doorstep if I simply signed up there and then.
I pointed out that I am in an Internet contract with BT and I am happy with my service, but she persisted that I was entitled to my free calls with Talk Talk and that BT had arranged this service with Talk Talk.
I then said quite clearly that I wasn't interested and closed the door. But I am extremely disappointed that Talk Talk seem to be using very underhand methods in trying to get people to sign up to their services under the pretence that it is something to do with BT, which clearly as a separate company, a competitor of BT both in home phones and internet, BT are not working with Talk Talk.
A letter will be going to Talk Talk to explain how concerned I am about their sales methods, and I might contact BBC Watchdog too.
Update: Carphone Warehouse/Talk Talk have contacted me about this and are pledging action.
Update 2 : I have been very impressed with the line Carphone/Talk Talk have taken with theis, keeping me advised by email of developments and the action they have taken. All I can say is that they have dealt with this in a way that shows thhey do not accept this sort of behaviour from agents acting on their behalf.
7 comments:
Nich, this is a typical sales pitch. I know, I used to run a B2B telecoms business business. TalkTalk were notorious for using underhand methods to get businesses signed up. I would guess that they are using an external sales agency such as Cobra for the sales process. However, a word in the right ear will the the sales person booted. TalkTalk is a brand of Carphone Warehouse, so I think the right person to speak to might be Charles Dunston. Here are his contact details:
dunstoc@cpwplc.com.
0800 0280188
0208 8965000
NPower use similar tactics
a smartly dressed lady of Indian subcontinent lineage
Brilliant, Nich. Is this your contribution to Silly Week this week?
Spelthorne Guru (Lib Dem) writes.....
Would you have said "a smartly dressed white lady..."
Secondly I love it when I canvass and the voter says on opening the door "I am not buying anything" and I say "I am not selling anything I just want you to vote for me...."
I may well ahve said well tanned, blonde, tall, short, ginger, spectacled, indeed used any form of description that matched.
Since her skin colour was atypical, it helped describe her. I think I similarly described a white person last week who answered the door to me wearing next to nothing on election day.
It's ironic that on one hand someone accuses you of being too 'pc' and on the other someone thinks you are a racist.
Nich, I am pleased to see that Carphone Warehouse are taking your concerns seriously. Does this show the power of blogs? You get rough sales sorted. Mrs Dale gets sheep returned to their owners.
Perhaps we can run the country via blogs and get rid of Brown & Co...?
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