Couple saved from cold call nightmare
AN elderly couple were ruthlessly snared into a costly and suspect contract to block nuisance calls.
But now Arthur Simmonds, 84, and his wife Doreen, 82, are free from this dubious trap.
Following an alert from Crusader their bank Barclays has stepped in to make good the £100 the Simmonds paid out and cracked down on any future debits being taken by the Telecom Protection Service Ltd.
This outfit, run by Bournemouth businessman Giles Ward-Best, has form about cold-calling people and flogging them pointless gadgets which promise to block unwanted calls, and expensive “membership” services.
Arthur, from Suffolk, who has enough on his plate caring for his wife who has dementia, took Telecom Protection Service Ltd’s unsolicited call in November.
The company’s name and initials conveniently lead many to confuse it with the Telephone Preference Service, a genuine body providing a free opt-out scheme for people who don’t want sales calls.
That play on names passed Arthur by.
What caught him out were the opening questions about him being a BT customer that he says gave him the distinct impression he was actually talking to BT.
“The blocker seemed a good idea and I thought BT had called me to recommend it, so I agreed and paid by debit card,” he explained.
The next day, however, a friend warned him this could be a scam and certainly not value for money, so Arthur called the firm to cancel.
It told him it had already been sent.
The blocker seemed a good idea and I thought BT had called me to recommend it, so I agreed and paid by debit card
Its website makes a big play of conforming to distance selling regulations, although since June last year these are now called consumer contracts regulations.
These allow cancellation of an order from the moment it is placed and doesn’t end until 14 days from the day goods are received.
As soon as Arthur’s parcel arrived he returned it unopened to Telecom Protection Service Ltd.
But he never got the refund or heard from the company.
Our emails and letters received the same treatment.
The phone number on the company’s website is either blocked or no longer works.
Ward-Best is also a director of another Bournemouth company, installer Solar Energies (UK) Ltd.
Understandably Arthur was under pressure but he should have returned the parcel by recorded delivery so he had proof of postage.
Without this it made it easier for the company to ignore him.
He did not realise either that by giving his verbal agreement and bank card details he had signed up to an ongoing service.
Given the lack of response from the company to our inquiry, Crusader asked Barclays for help.
It confirmed Arthur had agreed a Continuous Authority Transaction (CAT).
“We have sent letters to the company to request cancellation of the payment.
If the company does not adhere to this and takes a further payment, an automatic refund would be issued by us,” said a Barclays spokesman.
“Due to this being a CAT and given that the customer technically did agree to it, we would not be able to log this as being a fraud case.
That said, we could consider a Visa chargeback but this would require the customer to provide the proof that he has sent the item back, and we cannot guarantee its success.
“In light of the customer’s age and being a valued customer we will refund the £99.99 as a gesture of goodwill.”
• HOW TO BLOCK PESTS
REGISTERING with the Telephone Preference Service (tpsonline.org.uk) helps block nuisance calls but, according to consumer champion Which?, 80 per cent of householders get them, with a third feeling intimidated.
Firms that plague people could face fines of up to £500,000 from next month, when a rule change will make just a single complaint able to trigger legal action. More than 175,000 complaints were made last year to the Information Commissioner's Office.
For more Which? information about ways to block nuisance calls, see blogs.which.co.uk/technology
