The average consumer receives 21 unwanted calls per month

unwanted-call-185 More news is coming in about the barrage of unwanted calls that the average citizen in Great Britain receives on their landlines at home. Call Centre Helper has obtained exclusive details of a shocking report that paints a poor picture of the way that British consumers are being treated by outbound call centres.

According to an NCompass Online Omnibus survey published by TNS the average British citizen is receiving an average of 21 unwanted calls per month.

And signing up to the Telephone Preference Service reduces, but does not eliminate, nuisance calls. Customers signed up to the Telephone Preference Service still receive 20 unwanted calls per month compared to 26 from those that are not signed up.

The average of 21 unwanted calls per citizen were split as follows:

Calls from organisations where a call is connected quickly and a live agent speaks to you

Including charities, debt collection and other companies - 9.6

Other calls (silent calls and recorded messages) – 11.4

Broken down as follows:

Short ring – your phone rings for a short while (less than 15 seconds) and then stops – 2.9
No one there – when you answer the phone you just hear silence – 3.0
Dial tone call – when you answer the phone you just hear the dial tone – 1.4
‘No agent’ call - when you answer the phone you hear a message saying that nobody is available to speak to you, and that they will call again – 1.2
A recorded message call – when you answer the phone you hear a recorded message from a company, charity or political organisation - 2.9

The survey was carried out by market research company TNS. A sample of 1,007 respondents aged 16-64 was interviewed online from 13th–17th August 2009. The sample was weighted to represent the adult population of Great Britain aged 16-64. TNS are the world’s largest Custom Market Research specialists.

While this may represent a perception of the number of calls received, rather than the actual numbers, it still points to a widespread malaise within the outbound dialling industry.

Michael McKinlay

This news breaks only a few weeks after Ofcom has announced a proposed change to the way that the outbound dialling market operates. While proposing an increase in the level of fines (possibly as high as £2million) it has been widely criticised for a possible loosening of the silent calling restrictions.

Commenting on the report Michael McKinlay, CEO of Sytel said “Even allowing for any variations in the interview process, it still leaves a dismal picture. Consumers deserve a better deal. Any silent call is a silent call too many. And, if Ofcom really means what it says about eliminating silent calls, then they should start by banning the use of answering machine detection.”

25 Nov 2009

Filed under Call Centre News , Ofcom