Island Life August/September 2018

Legal
Unsolicited phone calls
By Terence Willey of Terence Willey & Co
A question that I am frequently asking
myself these days is: how many people
will have to be inconvenienced, upset
and financially deprived by means of
unsolicited phone calls, before we see
the introduction of strict regulation?
Over the years as a Practice we have encountered
numerous serious circumstances where individuals
have been lured into taking on financial obligations
that are either fraudulent, illegal or just simply hard-sell.
I was bemused recently to hear a particular financial
services advertisement on the radio, inviting the
listener to listen to two approaches for the sale
of financial services and decide which one was
fraudulent. Obviously this particular company’s
selling pitch was to point out the difference between a
respectable approach and one to be wary of. It is awful
that such sales calls are now increasing at an alarming
level and affecting more and more people. I suspect
if you ask any of your friends or acquaintances if they
have recently received a call about internet issues,
accident claims or financial planning, you would find
that this is extremely common.
One particularly worrying aspect of all this is that
some companies are targeting the elderly and
vulnerable who get lured into Agreements and, in
some cases, these companies then pass on details that
should be kept private. I have written many times on
this subject generally and the ‘golden rule’ must always
apply: if you receive any telephone call, internet enquiry
or the like, do not agree to anything. Simply say that
you are going to take advice before proceeding. If the
enquiry is genuine, such a response will be respected
- but you will probably encounter a great deal of
pressure to make a decision ‘on the spot’.
I earnestly believe that this problem could be
quickly dealt with by strict regulation and control
and involving fines to companies and individuals
where there is non-compliance. In other words,
it should be illegal for such direct advertising to
individuals to be undertaken without a Licence to
do so. It is not surprising that any such suggestions
have been rebuffed by companies, which will see
their own genuine trade policies prejudiced by such
strict regulation. I think we would all agree that we
have now reached a time where Government should
intervene in what is becoming a very troubling issue.
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