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PPI and PI cold calling “needs further change in the law” (25 November 2013)

Date: 25/11/2013
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, PPI and PI cold calling “needs further change in the law”

Research for AXA Insurance by Populus has found that 80% of those questioned for a study wanted cold calling by companies representing claims management companies (CMCs) to be made illegal.

Companies selling services such as legal representation for claiming back PPI (payment protection insurance) or making PI (personal injury) claims often use cold calling to generate leads and clients.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has in recent years cracked down on firms claiming to be PPI or PI solicitors which operate fraudulently, or companies which make promises regarding the services they offer which turn out to be misleading.

Individuals who cold call are often from telemarketing companies rather than a firm of solicitors – and many operate on a commission basis, so the more leads they generate the more money they earn.

The AXA poll questioned more than 2,000 people about the tactics of cold callers and found that two-thirds (63%) said they felt “angry” when they answered the phone to a cold caller.

A total of two-thirds of the respondents also said they felt as though their privacy had been violated by being cold called – and 45% said they were worried about how the company cold calling had obtained their details.

Nearly half of those questioned (44%) said they positively tried to prevent being contacted by cold callers – and only 2% of the 2,000 respondents actively welcomed unsolicited calls.

The findings of the Populus survey are due to be published this week – and recommendations include making it simpler for consumers to report cold callers to Ofcom, with powers to close down companies which breach the privacy of those they contact.

Fines of up to £1m for cold calling malpractice should also be set, according to the report.

Nearly one-fifth of those questioned for the AXA report said that they had been cold called in the previous 24 hours – and nearly one-quarter (23%) had been contacted in the previous week by a company cold calling.

AXA UK’s claims expert David Fisher said:

“It is time for the Ministry of Justice's claims management regulation unit to address these spamming tactics, so that the CMCs' endless search for growth does not continue to significantly impact consumers and unnecessarily invade the privacy of thousands of people every day.”

Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said:
"We will not tolerate companies which waste hard-working people's time and money through their own laziness, incompetence – or, frankly, dubious practices.
"We are already making sure rogue companies are shut down – and now we are ensuring those who are wasting everyone's time will pay for it.”
The AXA report is calling fro a change in the current law so that companies which cold call have to log the number of calls they make and penalties can be enforced when the level reaches the hundreds rather than thousands.

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