Ico and cold calling 3 claims management companies under scrutiny

Link to what to do if you receive a cold call http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...s-amp-messages

The Claims Guys Ltd
We Fight Any Claim Ltd
Consumer Money Matters Ltd


Sales calls

We’re aware of some companies making sales calls to people, even those on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Live Calls

Live calls are unsolicited direct marketing calls received by consumers from a real live person.
We have been working closely with other regulators, such as Ofcom, the TPS, The Office of Fair Trading, trading standards and the Ministry of Justice to coordinate our enforcement action.
We have analysed data collected from consumers and have identified organisations that cause us concern. The data was collected from complaints to the ICO and TPS.
We have contacted a number of organisations to address concerns about compliance with the following results:

• Claims Advisory Group Ltd - a meeting took place and an improvement plan was introduced;
• EMC Advisory Services Ltd - reviewed all processes and contracts and have provided the ICO with relevant information;
• Consumer Money Matters Ltd and Elsworth Associates Ltd - concerns regarding source for data and consent have been addressed.

Although we have not ruled out further action to address specific consumer concerns, these organisations have provided a level of assurance about their activities and we are monitoring their compliance.
We have also contacted a number of companies following concerns about their compliance, including:

• Weatherseal Home Improvements Ltd
• The Claims Guys Ltd
• We Fight Any Claim Ltd
• British Gas
• Scottish Power
• Anglian Windows
• Talk Talk.

These companies have assured us they are working to address these concerns, and we expect to see improvements in the coming months.
We are investigating three other companies which we have prioritised for consideration of enforcement action. We are not identifying these companies now, as that could jeopardise our investigations and evidence gathering.
The main sectors responsible for generating complaints about unsolicited live calls are home improvement, claims management, direct marketing and utilities.

Improvement rating	Description	Number of organisations
	Good improvements demonstrated. Enforcement action unlikely to be required.	4
	Concerns about compliance. Enforcement action possible.	7
	Risk of non-compliance. Enforcement action under consideration.	3

Automated calls

We have started investigations into the activities of a number of organisations which we believe are breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. In the case of unsolicited automated calls they are almost always linked to lead generation for the home improvement, and claims and debt management industries, and they rarely give any real indication as to the identity of the caller.
In the first two quarters of this year we served more than 30 Third Party Information Notices on telecommunications service providers compelling them to provide information about subscribing organisations.
This has generated new lines of enquiry and helped us to identify organisations whose compliance is in doubt. We are currently assessing this information to determine our options for regulatory action.
The Information Notices we have issued have resulted in us identifying five organisations as potentially involved in the transmission of unsolicited automated calls. Our investigations into those organisations are ongoing. Furthermore, we have also identified a number of telecommunications service providers in Ireland, Canada and the USA that are being used to transmit some marketing messages. We are engaging with the appropriate regulatory authorities in those countries in order to identify the subscribers.

Improvement rating	Description	Number of organisations
	Good improvements demonstrated. Enforcement action unlikely to be required.
	Concerns about compliance. Enforcement action possible.
	Risk of non- compliance. Enforcement action under consideration.	5

[bluebottle]

Re: Ico and cold calling 3 claims management companies under scrutiny

Compliance is a word that is alien to Talk Talk. I've had experience of that lot. Words like "bullies", "liars", "cheats" and "spivs" are too good for them. If anyone can think of anything more appropriate, answers on a postcard, please to....

[Amethyst]

Re: Ico and cold calling 3 claims management companies under scrutiny

Update from last month on one of these companies - EMC Advisory Services Limited

https://www.claimsregulation.gov.uk/details.aspx/1768

Effective from 2 July 2015

1. EMC Advisory Services Limited must re-train all sales agents within 2 weeks of the imposition of this condition about when and how to suppress telephone numbers, and provide refresher training every 3 months after that. A record of training must be retained by EMC Advisory Services Limited for a minimum of 6 months. Copies of training materials and evidence that training has been provided to each sales agent employed by EMC Advisory Services Limited must be provided to the Regulator within 1 week of the initial training being carried out.

2. For each outbound telemarketing call listened to by EMC Advisory Services Limited for training and monitoring purposes, EMC Advisory Services Limited must make a written record of:
a) The name of the sales agent making the call
b) A summary of the conversation between the consumer and the sales agent
c) The call outcome chosen by the sales agent
d) Whether the call outcome was appropriate with supporting reasons
e) The action, if any, that is to be taken if an inappropriate call outcome was chosen
A recording of the call and written records must be retained for a minimum of six months.

3. Where EMC Advisory Services Limited receives a complaint relating to a telemarketing call made by a third party during which:
a) the services of EMC Advisory Services Limited are offered; and/or
b) a question related to regulated claims management services is asked on behalf of EMC Advisory Services Limited
EMC Advisory Services Limited must treat this as if it were a complaint about EMC Advisory Services Limited and handle it in accordance with the Complaints Handling Rules 2015.

4. EMC Advisory Services Limited must inform the Regulator on the 5th working day of every month of each TPS complaint it has received in the previous month, whether this is received from the TPS, ICO, Legal Ombudsman, Direct Marketing Commission or the consumer, and provide copies of any related correspondence. For each complaint EMC Advisory Services Limited must provide evidence, if any, of the consumer’s overriding consent to receive telemarketing calls from EMC Advisory Services Limited and/or any third party marketing on its behalf, including the date and method by which consent was obtained.

5. EMC Advisory Services Limited must inform the Regulator of any additional third party agent, introducer or data supplier with whom it wishes to contract prior to contracting, and provide the following information:
a) The full name, address, company registration (if applicable), CRM (if applicable) and ICO registration of the business.
b) An explanation of the services that will be provided by the third party.
c) Copies of any marketing material to be used by the third party to market the services of EMC Advisory Services Limited.
d) An explanation of, and evidence to demonstrate, how EMC Advisory Services Limited will monitor the third party to ensure compliance with The Privacy and Electronic Communication (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and the Conduct of Authorised Persons Rules 2014.