Data Protection Commissioner bans Talk/Talk from making any calls

T

Technologist

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Looks like they're getting away with a slap on the wrist. 'Procedural defect' is their official explanation for deliberately breaking the law, even though they were told to stop by thousands of harassed members of the public.

No mention of any fines.

www.rte.ie - June 12th
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Commission for Communications Regulation and the Data Protection Commissioner have formally intervened with phone company TalkTalk, regarding serious failures in the exercise of its obligations in relation to contacting customers. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A number of consumers had complained to ComReg about receiving cold-calls from TalkTalk, despite having expressed a preference not to receive such unsolicited direct marketing calls.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ComReg and the Data Protection Commissioner instructed TalkTalk to immediately cease all direct marketing sales activities until it had audited and rectified all procedural defects. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Under the 2003 Data Protection and Privacy Regulations, it is an offence for a person to make an unsolicited telephone call for the purpose of direct marketing where the line subscriber has notified the operator that it does not consent to the receipt of such a call. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]TalkTalk said that due to data integrity issues in its internal processes, some consumers who had previously registered a preference not to be contacted for marketing calls were inadvertently contacted. The telephone company issued a public apology for its mistake.[/FONT]
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Re: Illegal calls from Talk Talk/The Car Phone Warehouse

The telephone company issued a public apology for its mistake.
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Anyone else laid eyes on this 'public apology'...? :rolleyes:
 
Re: Illegal calls from Talk Talk/The Car Phone Warehouse

DrMoriarty said:
Anyone else laid eyes on this 'public apology'...? :rolleyes:
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It's not on their web site.

I suppose maybe they want to phone everyone to apologise & to offer them a 'great deal' on phone service, but alas, they can't.:D

Regulation in this country is a joke.
 
Re: Illegal calls from Talk Talk/The Car Phone Warehouse

Technologist said:
Regulation in this country is a joke.
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It was the Data Protection people who made them stop.

Comreg told the Irish times they got 20 complaints but the Data Protection people got 4 and it was on those 4 complaints to the Data Protection people that the action was taken to stop the cold calling. If you were rung by a Scottish person you may additionally complain (see http://www.contact4.com/success.asp ) to them who made the calls and ignored the do not call flag.


Comreg did nothing. Comreg always does nothing.
 
Re: Illegal calls from Talk Talk/The Car Phone Warehouse

Will the Data Protection Commissioner investigate where they got people's phone numbers?

I think that companies like this should be able to show that the data was 'fairly obtained'.

Also, will they compare the call logs at TalkTalk with the 'do not call' register to establish the total number of illegal calls made. That way they could calculate a substantial enough fine & send.

I'm sure the money could be spent on a good cause.

I can't help feeling that the stable door has been closed after the horse has alread bolted and run a few races before going into retirement....
 
Re: Illegal calls from Talk Talk/The Car Phone Warehouse

Technologist said:
It's not on their web site.
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No truth in the rumour that they have a premium phone line that you can call to hear it I presume? :D
 
Hard to trust a company that puts its 3 month introductory offer in a box showing its charges versus Eircom

[broken link removed]

it may be cheaper after the 3 months by 4 euro per month but there are a host of reasons to check other attributes first - the obvious one being utv talk if you're an off peak user. On the other hand, if you are with Eircom, using 13434.ie for the peak national calls (zero cent per minute and 5 cent setup charge i.e 5 cent regardless of length of peak time call) cannot be beaten unless you are using a lot of calls on the Talktime anytime package. If you are an Eircom customer 13434 now beat Telestunt for a lot of calls - 0.5 cent per minute to USA etc (plus 5 cent setup) etc.

Anyway, maybe this would be a good challenge, Can anyone beat UTV service off peak or, for peak users, Eircom basic rental plus 13434? (13434 is dearer if using UTV etc so it gets more complicated depending on usage)
 
It's ironic that in a thread about the illegal activities of TalkTalk, the previous posting is a completely OT plug for a rival company.
 
Technologist said:
It's ironic that in a thread about the illegal activities of TalkTalk, the previous posting is a completely OT plug for a rival company.
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:confused: Do you mean podgerodge's question ('Can anyone beat...?) about the most advantageous combination of Eircom or UTV with a PCS service for international calls like 13434.ie (or Telestunt)..?
 
Technologist said:
It's ironic that in a thread about the illegal activities of TalkTalk, the previous posting is a completely OT plug for a rival company.
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If it's my post you refer to it's certainly not a plug for any company - just my current opinion on best value - I regularly, like other posters, "plugged" Telestunt until I found that 13434 were cheaper for some destinations - subject to the 5 cent setup charge.

I also pointed out that UTV is dearer if using the 13434 service a lot than it would be with Eircom. Pretty balanced overall I felt!

Edit: Actually Doctor Moriarty, on re-reading your post, I think you put it better than I have!
 
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