Ofcom makes changes to telemarketing rules
LONDON - Direct marketers could benefit from changes to call-centre rules after Ofcom extended the length of time permitted for call-handlers to pick up an outgoing call.
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Ofcom has ruled that businesses using automatic dialling machines to make cold calls to several homes at once can wait until the person answering finishes speaking before counting down a two-second limit on the time it takes a handler to pick up the call.
Previously, companies needed to respond to an answered phone within two seconds. Call-centre staff found that in this time they were sometimes unable to determine whether the call had been picked up by a person or an answering machine.
Rules also stipulate that abandoned calls must not account for more than 3% of all calls made in the space of 24 hours.
Campaigners against telemarketing have called the decision a loosening of the rules.
According to Ofcom, 3bn telemarketing calls are received each year in the UK. Consumers receive 1.2bn silent calls a year.
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