News Focus: Telemarketing - DMA leads war on silent calls

Direct Response 19-Jul-05

DMA members have three months to comply with tougher laws within the DMA Code of Practice to help stop silent calls.

The move follows nuisance calls research that found 37 per cent of
consumers are unacceptably inconvenienced by silent calls and 22 per
cent feel anxious when they receive them. Some 64 per cent of TPS

registrants are also unacceptably inconvenienced by silent calls.

John Price, chairman of the DMA Contact Centre & Telemarketing Council
and director of Brookmead Consulting, which undertook the research said:
"The problem is that people getting silent calls don't know where
they're coming from."

The new code states that DMA members must use a DMA-registered caller
line identity. This allows people receiving silent calls to phone back,
find out who called them and ask not to be contacted again.

The DMA is currently working with regulator Ofcom to reduce the number
of silent calls. According to Price, seven firms are under
investigation, including four DMA members.

Price will address the silent calls issue at the DMA's Return to the
Welcome Call conference on 26 July. He will also focus on recorded
messages and the rise of TPS registrations.

"We want to show everyone that we are finding a solution, rather than
letting telemarketing be ground to dust," he said.