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For years furious householders across the country have complained about the scourge of unwanted callers, which are considered at best a nuisance and at worst an opportunity to exploit vulnerable and elderly people.
Newspapers across the country have been filled with horror stories of people driven to the brink by high-pressurised door-step selling, while many others have been conned out of their life savings by rogue callers.
The growing wave of complaints from the public has led to recent changes in the law governing doorstep selling but now millions of UK householders can join a new national membership scheme launched today to say NO to door-to-door callers.
UK Doorstep Choice (www.ukdoorstepchoice.org.uk) has been set up in response to the massive 95 per cent of householders who are fed up with unsolicited callers at the door.
Prompted by mounting unrest among householders, the Trading Standards Institute, who revealed the scale of the problem in a massive national survey, called for a ban on doorstep cold-calling selling.
Members of the newly launched UK Doorstep Choice (UKDC) get the backing of a national organisation who will provide approved door signs for the home warning callers not to knock. They also have access to a manned hotline to report unwanted sales calls at their home.
Demand for the service has already been proved during a successful trial in the North East, which attracted around 3,000 members and the door signage was recognised by the likes of energy company Scottish and Southern and Norwich Union.
The man behind UKDC is ex-soldier Paul Gibbon, 42, from County Durham, who freely admits to being a self-confessed poacher turned gamekeeper. After retiring through injury from the forces Paul began a career in sales.
It was while selling charity magazine subscriptions door-to-door that he saw high pressure sales techniques being used by others on vulnerable people.
Paul said: “I was talking to one customer while next door an energy sales person was giving an elderly lady a really hard time. I intervened and after seeing the look of fear on the woman’s face realised that action needed to be taken.
“It was something of an epiphany moment I suppose. From there I set up a very successful trial version of the full-scale UKDC that is launching today nationally. Companies must respect a person’s right to privacy in their home if they request it. We are now here to help householders defend that right and urge anyone, company or organisation, to respect the UKDC signage that will be appearing on front doors across the country.
“If a cold caller repeatedly knocks on a property after been requested not to they are on very rocky ground. We will help our members report and complain against any heavy handed activity or people who ignore the signage, which is a clear request not to call!”
Sales companies and organisations could face civil action under harassment laws where it is proved they have called at a home after they have been requested not to. UKDC represents the first stage in taking these complaints forward on behalf of householders.
Annual membership of the scheme costs £5 – that’s just over a penny a day. Plans are in place to make donations from any future cash surpluses to a charitable trust of which the board of trustees will make donations. In view of UKDC founder Paul Gibbon’s military past, the first designated charity will be the Help for Heroes campaign which aids wounded service men and women.
As part of the annual fee UKDC also plans to negotiate favourable deals for lower tariff fuel, household goods and services on behalf its members.
Paul Gibbon added: “We represent the buffer between the door-to-door callers and the public. Many people in society are simply too polite or too nervous to turn away people at the door which research tells us they clearly do not want!
“With a downturn in the economy we expect the problem of door-to-door selling activity to get worse as more resource is put into direct selling.
“Now, for the first time, UKDC offers householders the chance to have their right to privacy within their home respected.”
Last year, government advice service Consumer Direct received more than 50,000 complaints from consumers about goods and services bought from doorstep sellers. Also the Local Government Association surveyed councils and found that 51 out of 57 local authorities reported that peddlers were a problem in their area.
Research and reports from Age Concern, National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, the Office for Fair Trading, the DTi, Trading Standards Institute, the EEC and Ofgem clearly demonstrate the need for action. For years Citizens Advice and Trading Standards have stated that a nationally recognised preference service for the door would be a “good idea for consumers” but until now no such service has existed.
Anyone wanting to find out more or join the service can go to www.ukdoorstepchoice.org.uk or call 0845 872 2263.
ENDS
Case Studies available on request!
For more information please contact Andy Barker at UKDC on 07855 352 303. EDITORS NOTES: Distraction Burglary Door step selling also gives a platform for distraction burglary and bogus calling – a major problem for police forces across the UK. With around 15,000 incidents reported every year, distraction burglary has become a significant threat to the safety of households up and down the UK. The average age of victims is 78 years, 74 % of victims live on their own and 77 % of victims are women. Age Concern. In 2002, Age Concern published its report Sharp Selling Practice highlighting the problem of rogue callers and doorstep selling techniques. This prompted the Citizens Advice Bureau to take action. National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) In 2002 NACAB raised problems in the door-to-door market with OFT, as a super-complaint, using CAB evidence in their reports Door to Door and The Fuel Picture. The report Door to Door, included more than 1,500 evidence reports from 353 CABs across the country. The OFT began its own investigation following the CAB report. OFT In 2004 the Office of Fair Trading called for laws governing doorstep salespeople to be changed to protect consumers from unscrupulous tactics. The OFT said in a report (Doorstep Selling May 2004) that people were often pressured into buying goods they did not want. It added that people were not aware of their rights about cancelling a contract, and called on the government to make it easier to back out.
OFT research showed that nearly 40 per cent of consumers had bought goods or services in the home, with 30% experiencing problems. People questioned as part of the OFT consumer survey said they felt more pressurised buying in the home and the OFT found psychological tactics were often used to get a purchase. TSI In 2003 the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) called for a ban on "doorstep cold-calling" sales, following a national survey in which 95% of those surveyed objected to the practice. Nearly 9,000 randomly selected householders were surveyed for the national survey, and over 95% said that they did not want doorstep sellers calling – less than 1% were in approval.
Around two-thirds of consumers said that they had received a cold call in the previous three months and 25% indicated that they have had a bad experience with a cold-calling doorstep seller in the past two years. The TSI also found that only one-in-six consumers ever reported an incident of cold-calling to the authorities.
Importantly only one in six of those who reported problems said that they had complained to any of the authorities eg police/trading standards. The question then went on to analyse the products which had caused these problems. It is notable that problems with energy and double glazing type products feature significantly.
The survey report concluded that it was “quite clear that householders quite simply do not want salespeople cold calling. Replies were almost unanimous in saying that they don’t welcome them and such operating methods had no benefit. YOUGOV RESEARCH Research carried out last year by YouGov on behalf price comparison website uSwitch.com, revealed some 13 million electricity and mains gas consumers had switched – that figure will be higher since energy price rises this year.
Research carried out by J D Power found that of those who switched supply, 90 per cent of electricity and 92 per cent of gas customers had been contacted directly by a sales agent. Earlier research found that 61 per cent of sales were made on the doorstep, 25 per cent were telesales and the rest were on the street or in-store promotions. About 4 million supplies (9 per cent of all energy supplies) may be switching as a result of doorstep canvassing.
USEFUL LINKS OFT REPORT http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/consumer_protection/oft716.pdf BERR (Dti) http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file33827.pdf http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file32097.pdf HELP THE AGED http://policy.helptheaged.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B0E5171D-993C-4CB9-BC07-B9FA0B1A6805/0/cr_dti_consultation_doorstep_selling_cold_calling_04.pdf
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