Not rubbish at all. I do not do rubbish. I double checked my bill and the call was actually made on Tuesday 5 September 2006 at 2027hrs, lasting 1 minute 41 seconds. The call cost was 0.054 pence to which has to be added VAT of course, which brings the total to 0.06345pence.
As far as I can see, as a BT Together option customer, I have no setup fee on 0870 numbers.
If you read my posting accurately and the earlier thread you will gather that my comment about the cost was prompted by earlier comments about the feared costs of calling the number and having a go at them. I simply point out that I got value for money from my rant at them. One would have to be one of the dimmer stars in the firmament to think my comments were a device to encourage readers to use 0870 numbers. If I had felt that way, I would not have bothered to participate in the debate.
Anyway, getting back to a more balanced level of debate, I have now received a reply from The Information Commissioners Office. I quote:
Thank you for your email of 13th December 2006 which was concerned with telephone calls being made from the telephone number 0870 850 7618.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your correspondence. The large volume of correspondence we have been receiving has prevented us responding as quickly as we would have wished.
As I understand it, you have received ‘silent calls’ which originated from the telephone number 0870 850 7618. You say you know that others have complained about the marketing methods used by Weatherseal and Ideal Homes who you believe use that number.
In your email you asked us to advise you ‘what action [we] have taken in respect of calls from this number’ and the extent of the information [we] hold about matters relating to this number that [we] have taken in respect of calls from this number’.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the FOIA’)
Under section 1 of the FOIA you have the right to ask a public authority, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, to be provided with any information they hold that you have specified in your request provided that it is not subject to an exemption. We have therefore treated your request as a request made under the FOIA.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (the regulations)
Before I answer your specific questions, I should clarify the scope of the Information Commissioner's role in looking at complaints relating to telephone calls.
The Information Commissioner's Office advises on and enforces the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (‘the PECR’). These regulations deal specifically with direct marketing by electronic means, including by telephone. Direct marketing includes the promotion of an organisations goods and services.
The regulations require that organisations do not make ‘live’ unsolicited, direct marketing telephone calls to subscribers who -
·Are registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), or the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) and/or
·Have made a specific request to the organisation not to make marketing calls to that number
Unless they have indicated that they do not, for the time being, object to such calls being made.
Silent calls
As disturbing as we know silent calls can be, as no marketing material is transmitted during a silent call the marketing rules of the PECR do not apply. Silent call complaints do not therefore fall under the legislation we enforce.
They do, however, fall under Ofcom’s remit. The persistent misuse of communications networks is subject to regulation by Ofcom under the Communications Act 2003. This Act allows the regulator to take action against the use of telephone networks that causes avoidable nuisance, annoyance or anxiety.
I understand that Ofcom monitor the volumes of complaints they receive about silent calls and in your email you noted that you were aware that Ofcom has received complaints about the use of this number. If you require any further information about their work on silent calls, either in connection with this particular number or in general, you should contact them directly
www.ofcom.org.uk Tel: 0845 456 3000
The information we hold about the number
You asked what action we have taken in respect of calls originating from that number. Any action we take would be based on any related complaints we have received.
All complaints we receive that relate to the PECR are logged onto our electronic case management and enquiry handling system. This system allows us to search for the complaints we have dealt with in a number of different ways, such as by the unique reference number the complaint was given, the name and address of the person who contacted us and the name of the organisation or individual the complaint was about. Where we do not have any of these things it may still be possible to find a particular case or group of cases provided that we have enough information about it.
I should point out, however, that when we record complaints on our system, we do not record them as being about a specific telephone number. As a result of this, the search I have just conducted on ‘0870 850 returned no results. This does not mean that we have never received any complaints about the use of this number, it just means that if we have, then we cannot find them by searching on that number.
(see next post for rest of reply)
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Unknown number - 0870 8507618 (Missed Call) (Read 55,529 times)
