Mediacheck

'Do Not Call' (Unless You're a Huge Corporation)

Thousands complain about telemarketing by wireless and banking giants, but CRTC is toothless.

By Michael Geist, 13 Oct 2009, TheTyee.ca

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Freedom of Access request exposed public outrage.

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This month marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of Canada's do-not-call list. Over the past 12 months, millions of Canadians have registered their numbers on the list and filed hundreds of thousands of complaints with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which is tasked with enforcing the law.

While the CRTC has found itself subject to considerable criticism for investigating only a small percentage of complaints and levying just a handful of fines for do-not-call violations, a review of tens of thousands of complaints obtained under the Access to Information Act reveals a potentially bigger problem.

Many of Canada's best-known companies have been the target of frequent complaints, yet are not subject to investigation due to the large number of exceptions found in the law. This has led to genuine dismay, with many people using a comment section in the complaint form to register their disappointment with the do-not-call list.

Prying loose 60,000 complaints

Working together with University of Ottawa students Sean Murtha and Frances Munn, I recently reviewed more than 60,000 complaints released by the CRTC. The complaints were lodged in late 2008 and early 2009 using the do-not-call list's Internet-based complaints mechanism. In each case, the complaint included all relevant information with the exception of the complainant's name and telephone number, which were excluded for privacy reasons.

There were hundreds of complaints about automated calls promising cruise vacations or lawncare services. But the undisputed leader among reputable companies was Bell Canada, which alone was the subject of nearly 1,000 complaints. In fact, the wireless sector had the distinction of taking the top three spots with Rogers and Telus ranking second and third respectively. There were also hundreds of complaints against Canada's top financial institutions and retailers including RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, and Sears.

Businesses exempt under the law similarly faced numerous complaints. For example, Canadians lodged complaints against 27 different newspapers, despite the fact that newspapers enjoy a full exception under the do-not-call legislation.

Huge loopholes

The sheer number of complaints against a who's who of the business community places the spotlight on the gap between what Canadians expect the do-not-call list to cover and what it actually does. Many Canadians reasonably anticipated that placing their phone number on the do-not-call list would mean that the telemarketing calls from telephone companies, banks, retailers, newspapers, and charities would stop.

Yet the law contains large loopholes that let the calls continue. Bell Canada may lead the way on do-not-call complaints, but it seems likely that the Bell calls qualified under the business relationship exception that allows a business to continue to call a customer for a full 18 months after they leave the company. In other words, the law does not restrict calls that try to win back customers or sell existing customers other products or services.

Similarly, there are blanket exceptions for survey companies, political parties, charities, and newspapers. All of those organizations are permitted to continue calling until specifically asked to stop.

The result is that a system designed to restore consumer confidence may actually undermine it with many feeling helpless to stop unwanted telemarketing calls. The enforcement side of the do-not-call list may need improvement, but the more critical change is the elimination of overly broad exceptions that turn the do-not-call list into the do-not-hesitate-to-call list. [Tyee]

Michael Geist, whose column on digital policy and law runs every Tuesday on The Tyee, holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.

11 Comments:

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  • alive

    2 years ago

    Ignore the bastards

    Business operate with the principle that any kind of attention to their brand is better than no attention!
    Hence it suits them just fine, even if you respond to their calls in a negative fashion.

    One could argue that if they saved all the cost of advertising the products would be cheaper and maybe sell better, but that is too simple a solution for them.

  • Jeffrey J.

    2 years ago

    I tried, and tried and tried

    As a citizen who has always objected to unwanted, invasive phone calls (and unwanted faxes to boot!), I excitedly joined the do-not-call list as soon as I read about it on Prof. Geist's article. A year ago.

    And yeah, after that, wham. More calls. More often. All the time. Really, really irritating.

    How can society be this messed up??? The closest thing to a scientific answer can be found in Joseph Tainter's Collapse of Complex Societies. It applies right to this issue.

    Great coverage.

  • Dan the socialist

    2 years ago

    I never used to get calls

    I never used to get calls until I signed up on this list then they starting coming, many from the Vancouver Sun and RBC..

  • livinginthecity

    2 years ago

    This only applies to companies you actually do business with...

    ...but if a certain company is really getting to you then threaten to cut them off, or even better, act on your threat.

    For me it was my bank and cellphone provider, both of whom I had accounts with, constantly pestering me with solicitations for new services as well as "customer satisfaction surveys," then tell me they had the legal right to call me when I complained.

    So, I called my phone company, asked to speak to a manager and politely explained that while I was generally quite happy with their actual product, if the solicitation calls continued I would have to start looking at the competition.

    With my bank, I was less charitable: no-fee chequing accounts are a dime a dozen nowadays, so I just called them and told them that I was cancelling my chequing account because their "service" was interfering with my daily life (I still had other accounts, like RSPs, which were harder to move)

    I'm happy to say that 12 months later, I can't recall the last time I got an unwanted call from either of them. Of course with my phone company, it may be because I decided I hated having a cell anyway and cancelled it.

  • CourtGQuinn

    2 years ago

    Telesales are a "green" job....

    I've worked in a fair number of call centers...inbound, outbound, "warm" calls, "cold" calls, polling/surveys, charities.. Call centers- for better or worse- have been major job creators the last decade. Kinda sad really...paying people barely any money to sit at a desk for 8 hours repeating virtually the same line over and over to hundreds of callers. People on the other end of the line telling you off or listening to funny answering machines was a kick....but this is how the "new economy" operates. 30 years ago with little education one could get out of high school and get a job at a factory and earn enough money to live comfortably...today because of outsourcing/offshoring/robotics/automation...you want an entry level job...work for a call centre for little money doing a job you hate almost as much as people you're trying to sell to on the other end of the line hate you calling. Heck, as long as a call center creates "jobs"...governments will pay compnaies to locate their call centres in their jurisdictions. Don't worry though...with fibre optics/computers english speaking people in India/China can call many more Canadians for a fraction of the cost of the $10/hour Canadian call centre employees...EVERY "job" can/will be outsourced/automated in coming years for better or worse. Don't blame call centre employees making $10/hour...blame the economy that hardly provides entry level opportunities in this day and age. In fact, with in-bound call centres (when you call big companies regarding problems)...never, never treat those call centre employees with rudeness/contempt. Do know that files are kept with your account regarding just how polite a customer you are? Notes are attached to files letting other inbound call center employees know just how polite you were during previous calls...

  • Chris Keam

    2 years ago

    worx for me

    I've had pretty good success with signing up for the do not call list. The amount of calls has definitely dropped off. I also took advantage of a couple other methods of removing junk mail and telephone soliticitations that are available to Canadians.

    You can learn about them from my personal blog post on the topic from September 2008

    http://www.chriskeam.com/blog/2008/09/do-not-call-me-anytime.html

  • catspajamas

    2 years ago

    I'm not on the do not call list

    but I can't remember the last time I had contact with a tele-marketer or anyone else trying to solicit my business.

    Here's why: I don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number.

  • SharingIsGood

    2 years ago

    how they stop for me

    1. I ask the person's name.

    2. I congratulate that person for having a job.

    3. I then inform that person that we do not take telephone solicitations and we are to be placed on his or her company's do not call list as we keep our own list of companies that fail to heed our request. "Further, should your company fail to remove us from its call list it will not get our business.

  • gguppy

    2 years ago

    Just Hang Up

    The best way to control telemarketing and other telephone soliciting is to simply "hang up". If everybody they called did this they'd soon get the message and give up. There has to be a certain percentage of people called who get hooked - order their services, donate to their cause, or allow themselves to be scammed.

  • snert

    2 years ago

    Lately

    I haven't had any huge corporations calling me. If anything it's the fly-by-nights and very few of those.

    Nobody claimed the DNC list was goung to be perfect but it seems to be working most of the time.

  • offended

    2 years ago

    Off shore calls

    from one particular "Canadian" telecommunications were coming in 5 - 6 times a week. I have a land line from them and want nothing more. I called them back. Got a number for their privacy office. Complained. I no longer get calls. Ridiculous to have to do this.
    And Canned Waste persists in calling. Sorry, I don't subscribe to any arm of the provincial Liberal party. They don't call anymore either. The privacy officer again.
    Most large companies have them. They can be reached via email off their websites.
    Now if I could just get rid of all the callers from Florida trying to sell me a cruise. Although
    I am registered with both the CRTC site and Michael Geist's don't call lists, the calling from the U.S. of A. doesnt stop.

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