RunningWithBulls.com - The curse of Sanfermin

From today’s Sunday Business Post:

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“The communications regulator, Comreg, is examining the use of wholesale information by telecoms providers in their use of wholesale information by telecoms providers in their attempts to win back customers from rival operators.
Earlier this month The Sunday Business Post reported that some disconnected Smart customers had been approached by Eircom salespeople, and were identified by the salespeople as being contracted to the trouble operator.
This is despite the fact that telecoms providers are not legally permitted to have access to this information, which is technically only available to the wholesale division of Eircom.
The ComReg spokeman said it was also investigating complaints from customers about the five-days “cooling off period”, which allows customers to cancel a contract within five days of it being signed.”

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So, what happened here? Well, possibly, someone in Eircom Wholesale (the people who sell telephone lines in bulk to other operators) may have shared customer details with someone in the Eircom telephone arm of the company.

This is the kind of issue that arises when the same company who sells products other companies, has a division that is also in competition with these other companies.

This has been an issue in the past where other telco companies had been coldcalling consumers.

If this happens to you, you are well within your rights to refuse these calls, and to register you refusal to receive these type of calls you can contact the Data Protection Commissioner, and read this consumer guide
(pdf document).

Key points regarding thie NDD (National Directory Database) are:

• This facility is open to both residential and business phone subscribers.
• It is a free service.
• It applies to voice calls and, for business subscribers, to faxes.
• Its aim is to stop unsolicited marketing messages.
• It only applies to calls made from within the State.
• Phone companies will pass on their customers’ preference to the NDD in accordance with regulatory obligations.
• Within 28 days of opting out, no cold calling should occur.
• Marketing companies who break the rules face prosecution by the Data Protection Commissioner.

So, register your name if you do not want to receive these calls. If they do, contact the Data Protection Commissioner.

Technorati Tags: eircom , do not call database , cold calling , irish news , sunday business post , data privacy , ireland