Telemarketing

Introduction

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) receives many complaints about telemarketing calls. Consumers either say that they want these calls to stop because they interrupt their daily activities, or they raise concerns about the circumstances of the call, e.g. the time they received the call or the contact information the telemarketer provided.

Definition

Telemarketing is contact, via a telecommunications service, from an individual or organisation whose aim is to supply, provide, advertise or promote goods and services.

Telemarketing can be conducted by a telephone call to a landline, mobile or VoIP number, by a short message (SMS or text) to a mobile telephone number, by fax to a fax number, or via the Internet by email or other means.

The TIO’s jurisdiction

Our power to investigate complaints about telemarketing is limited.

In the first instance, we only investigate complaints that the government’s Do Not Call Register Operator cannot register and investigate.

The Do Not Call Register

People who use their Australian landline, mobile or VoIP numbers for private or domestic purposes can add their numbers to the government’s Do Not Call Register. The numbers cannot be fax numbers.

It is against the law for certain organisations to make unsolicited telemarketing calls to a number on the Do Not Call Register.

We refer callers to the Do Not Call Register Operator if:

• they are eligible to register their number, i.e. their number is an Australian residential number for voice calls, or
• they have registered their number but continue to receive calls from organisations whose activities are covered by the register, or
• they do not object to receiving telemarketing calls but have concerns about the circumstances of the call, e.g. the time they received the call or the contact information the caller provided.

Contact details for the Do Not Call Register Operator are:

When the TIO can handle complaints about telemarketing

We will only register a complaint if:

1. a consumer cannot add their number to the Do Not Call Register, e.g. it is a business or fax number, or
2. the Do Not Call Register Operator has decided that the content of a call cannot be defined as telemarketing activity or the organisation that made the call is exempt from the prohibition on making telemarketing calls.

If the above applies, we handle complaints if a consumer requires help:

• from their telephone or internet service provider to deal with repeated unwelcome contact from a party offering non-telecommunications goods and services, or
• to stop receiving repeated unwelcome contact from a telephone or internet service provider, if that provider is a registered TIO member.

How we handle complaints about telemarketing of non-telecommunications goods and services

When we receive a complaint about telemarketing contact from a party offering non–telecommunications goods and services, we ask the consumer if they asked the telemarketer to stop calling or faxing their number.

If they claim they did, but that the telemarketer continued to contact them after this, we refer the consumer to the customer service area of their telecommunications service provider to deal with the complaint in the same way it deals with complaints about unwelcome calls.

The rules for service providers for dealing with complaints about unwelcome calls are in the telecommunications code of practice, Handling of Life Threatening & Unwelcome Calls.

If a consumer claims not to be satisfied with their service provider’s response to their report of an unwelcome call from a telemarketer, we would investigate their complaint as we do other complaints about unwelcome calls. See our position statement: Unwelcome and life threatening calls.

If the consumer did not ask the telemarketer to stop calling, we suggest to them that they wait until the same telemarketer contacts them again, then:

• ask for and record the telemarketer’s name and contact details
• ask the telemarketer to stop calling or faxing their number, and
• if the telemarketer calls again, call their telephone service provider to handle the same way it deals with other complaints about unwelcome calls.

How we handle complaints about telemarketing by telephone or internet service providers that are registered TIO members

If a complaint is about a TIO member continuing telemarketing contact, we register the complaint against that company (even if it is not the consumer’s service provider).

We refer the consumer to a senior level of complaint, so it can organise to remove their contact details from the company’s sales and marketing lists.

If the consumer claims not to be satisfied with the company’s response to their request or if the telemarketing continues, we would take the complaint further.

Other call types

Calls with no-one on the end of the line cannot be classified as telemarketing calls, because there is nothing to indicate whether any good or service is being offered to the consumer. The TIO classifies and handles this type of complaint as a standard unwelcome call complaint.

Missed call marketing: sometimes consumers claim that, when they returned a 1- or 2-ring call by dialling the number on their mobile telephone’s missed call list, the number they called was for a party selling goods and services. We refer these complaints to the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) or the relevant department of Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs. But we also advise consumers that we can handle their complaint as an unwelcome call if they continue to receive missed call marketing from the same party. For more see 2006 ACMA media release.

Spam email: we refer most complaints about spam to ACMA, which has special procedures for dealing with spammers. For more, see ACMA's spam page

Updated: 28 November 2007

Next: Unwelcome and life threatening calls