Advice, regarding telesales work legality "TPS"

[jumpy]

JCSlacker, was it running from a remote dialer?
The way mine worked was as follows:

Login to system via internet.
Their dialer rings your landline
Whilst landline is connected to their dialer system, it rings the numbers on its database for you to make your sales (correction) survey pitch.

The hours you were paid for were calculated with two factors... the length of time the dialler was actively ringing the number on its database before the prospect answers the call, and the length of time you actually spend in a live active survey with the prospect.... until they put the phone down on you.

At £6.10 ph you were supposed to be able to earn 'good money' lol by my workings it would have taken over 7 days of 9-5 live calling to make up 15 or 20 hours of actual paid hours.
But of course you don't get to find out about all of this until you start

In short, if you're doing it for a few hours and some spare cash, fine. If you're expecting to earn a living and pay your bills out of it, forget it.

I filed my experience of telesales from home under 'SCAM'.
I'll not say who the company was, but they advertised in my local jobcentre as no cold calling and no sales *seems legit* neither statement was true. Subsequent searching for them online revealed a lot of angry people who had worked for them and not been paid... including search results at websites like moneysavingexpertdotcom.

lol, I like your style... to defeat cold calling, you must become cold calling

 

[JCSlacker]

JCSlacker, was it running from a remote dialer?
The way mine worked was as follows:

Login to system via internet.
Their dialer rings your landline
Whilst landline is connected to their dialer system, it rings the numbers on its database for you to make your sales (correction) survey pitch.

It's being done at their place of work, on their phones, with their lists. :S

The hours you were paid for were calculated with two factors... the length of time the dialler was actively ringing the number on its database before the prospect answers the call, and the length of time you actually spend in a live active survey with the prospect.... until they put the phone down on you.

At £6.10 ph you were supposed to be able to earn 'good money' lol by my workings it would have taken over 7 days of 9-5 live calling to make up 15 or 20 hours of actual paid hours.
But of course you don't get to find out about all of this until you start

In short, if you're doing it for a few hours and some spare cash, fine. If you're expecting to earn a living and pay your bills out of it, forget it.

From what I gathered so far, the skilled callers who are doing well are earning £10~hour for 24hours over the week. thats for those who are doing well at it. practising my pitch adds a few hours aday so its more like full time work.

I filed my experience of telesales from home under 'SCAM'.
I'll not say who the company was, but they advertised in my local jobcentre as no cold calling and no sales *seems legit* neither statement was true. Subsequent searching for them online revealed a lot of angry people who had worked for them and not been paid... including search results at websites like moneysavingexpertdotcom.

lol, I like your style... to defeat cold calling, you must become cold calling

It seemed professional when they booked a conference thing for interviews at a decent well know place for the interviews, seemed posh, decent* "should have realised if it was professional, then they'd do it at their office.

On coldcalling to leave cold calling, I meant using the phones skills I developed to sales pitch my skills to employers. I was awful on the phone, still am a little, but no where as bad as I was. So I have have to give them a little credit on their training ability, maybe not their morality to workers.

 

[Energize]

PS. A job is a job,

Doesn't make it morally acceptable though.

 

[Jokester]

What does your contract say about liabilities?

 

[JCSlacker]

So if I go round to a rich guys house when he's on holiday, (gain access as per a squatter with no obvious forced entry) contract some removal men/man with a van to remove some of the contents/valuables then they'd be breaking the law? Even though they're acting in good faith and had no intention to do anything illegal?

Or perhpas I contract a locksmith to break into someone's house - maybe using a utility bill I found in their bin as proof of identity?

I think defrauding them, is what protects the locksmith, I do think locksmiths could get in a lot of trouble for unlocking without proof of ID "on good faith.

Or thieves would take jobs as locksmiths and help their friends, innocently not knowing.

I think ignorance of the law, is ignored by the justice system

 

[JCSlacker]

What does your contract say about liabilities?

Now I really feel, really dumb. There was only one copy, and they have that.

I can remember something about being liable for criminal and unprofesional practice.

 

[unwashed potato!]

slightly off topic but is there a tps but for emails?

 

[dowie]

It's not the same thing, this is on going contracts between companies.

Either he's a 2nd company/sole trader with his own responsibilities in this case or he's a disguised employee of the first company with the issues that brings.

Well I guess a good way of resolving the question would be for the OP to contact TPS and ask if they've ever fined a contractor/agency worker acting on behalf of a telemarketing company or whether, in his situation, it would be him they'd be pursuing and not the company who he was acting on behalf of, who's phone line he was using who supplied him with the list of leads to call in the first place.

I really doubt that individuals working under some umbrella org are paying these fines or that the likes of Hays/Office angels would be coughing up for such a fine because one of the temps they sent to a client was given a number to call that he/she shouldn't have been given. IMO its much more likely that the telemarketing firm itself takes the hit on these fines and not the 'contractors' who are essentially being used as employees.

Realistically - these aren't well paid positions - if some minimum wage bod actually had got fined in this way there would already be a story out there in the press now.

 

[sniffy]

slightly off topic but is there a tps but for emails?

No. UK companies can only send you marketing emails if you give them permission to do so. The problem is that most spam doesn't originate from the UK therefore our legislation cannot be enforced.

 

[Jokester]

I really doubt that individuals working under some umbrella org are paying these fines or that the likes of Hays/Office angels would be coughing up for such a fine because one of the temps they sent to a client was given a number to call that he/she shouldn't have been given. IMO its much more likely that the telemarketing firm itself takes the hit on these fines and not the 'contractors' who are essentially being used as employees

You would be surprised, it is a clear differentiator that the contractor is liable, if he's not it puts him firmly in the disguised employee bracket.

If he works for an agency or unbrella company he doesn't need to worry about it, if he works for himself he needs to get and read a copy of his contract.

 

[Shamrock]

I used to work for a company that circumvented the TPS laws by calling from outside the EU using call centres based in the Phillipines. By completing a telephone "lifestyle survey" you have now inadvertently opted-in to receiving marketing calls from within the UK and your details were sold to various companies wanting to peddle their wares.

I found it morally objectionable (many of the people hassled were elderly) and have since left the company, but as far as I know they are still going as their methods are sort of a legal grey-area.