The trouble with telesales calls

21 July 2015 - 02:04 By Wendy Knowler

Just as consumers' signatures are occasionally forged, call recordings are sometimes manipulated or fabricated to falsify a consumer's consent to a deal. With consumers seldom getting access to those call recordings - which become legally binding contracts when deals are concluded telephonically, the perpetrators have a good chance of getting away with it.Retired school teacher Gail Lombard of Glen Anil, Durban, who has been an Edgars account holder for 20 years, is adamant that someone faked her voice in a March recording of "her" agreeing to an Edgars club membership for R54.50 a month.She denied being consulted about or consenting to membership , so she was given"the benefit of the doubt" and the membership was cancelled and the accumulated fees waived.But Lombard remained unsettled, wanting to hear her "consent" call. In Your Corner took up her request with Edcon, and after some technical delays, she was invited to listen to the call at her Edgars branch."I knew immediately that that was not me," Lombard said.The recording lasts just 56 seconds, mostly comprising the agent detailing the club benefits, including "discounted fashion vouchers" and "up to R100" off meals at unnamed restaurants.The agent does none of the customary verification - asking for her ID number, account number and address to send the vouchers to - and "Mrs Lombard" asks not a single question, her responses being limited to one word at a time: five words in total.As telesales calls go, it's irregular, if not implausible.Edcon's executive manager of group services, Deven Naicker, said Edcon's "affiliated third party company" handled club memberships and stringent processes were in place to ensure the validity of all product enrolments, including doing regular audits.He acknowledged that the call in question "is not up to our standards" and said the company would revisit the approved call script for this supplier as well as their audit practices."Clearly this is not a best practice and not what we want," he said, while insisting the call was genuine.Cellphone network logs confirm that Edcon's partner company did call Lombard on the day in question.MTN has a record of a 71-second call to Lombard's number - 15 seconds longer than the call recording Lombard was sent by Edcon.Lombard remains adamant that she never agreed to the club membership and that it's "patently not me" in the disputed recording.Unfortunately, given that the "Mrs Lombard" in the recording says only five words, separately, in those 56 seconds, the voice can't be forensically identified - a recording of at least a few minutes of the disputed voice is required.Contact WendyE-mail: consumer@knowler.co.zaTwitter: @wendyknowlerRinging the changesThe one big advantage of doing a telesales deal is that, thanks to the direct marketing provisions of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), you have five business days in which to cancel.You don't have to give a reason and you can't be charged a penalty: you simply get to change your mind, something you can't do if you initiate the transaction in the normal way.So if you agree to that insurance policy or add-on cellphone data package over the phone, then have second thoughts, you have a handy "out".But too many realise too late that the deal wasn't as grand as it was made out to be, because they don't have the contract to refer to.With telesales, the call recording takes the place of a written contract, but while you have a legal right to be given a copy of a contract at the time of signing, the CPA states only that companies must "retain" a copy of the recording.This is an appalling oversight in the act. In querying it with National Consumer Commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed earlier this year, he responded: "It is the view of the commission that the voice recording is the only proof of the transaction, and thus, the consumer is entitled to a copy whenever a dispute arises."Mostly what happens is consumers are told to travel to a branch of the company concerned in order to listen to the call.While Mohamed's declaration is a vast improvement for consumers, for the power imbalance between consumer and company to be properly addressed it would have to become mandatory for consumers who agree to a deal over the phone to be sent a copy within, say, 48 hours: in time to make use of the cooling-off period.And to make it far less likely for call recording tampering to happen.If technology is to work for companies, it must work for consumers too.WHAT TO DOAlways insist that a copy of a call recording in which you agreed to a deal is sent to you...

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