Effectiveness of actions to reduce harm from nuisance calls in Scotland
Research commissioned to analyse the impact of actions set out in the Nuisance Calls Commission action plan, and to examine the outcomes of past interventions.
Annex I: Nuisance call complaints systems
There are three “official” portals for consumer complaints about nuisance calls, run respectively by ICO, TPS and Ofcom, and one for scams: Action Fraud. In addition, Which? now provides a front end to these; and some network operators provide nuisance call support to customers, including the possibility of making a complaint. For this study we have looked at the ICO, TPS, Ofcom, Action Fraud and Which? systems and summarise our findings below.
Figure 51: Channels available for complaining
| Channel | Online | Webchat | Telephone | Post | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICO | Yes | Page directs to relevant places (though some links are out of date). Gives expected completion time. | ||||
| TPS | Yes | Yes | Can phone to request complaints form, but not to complain. | |||
| Ofcom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Page directs to relevant places; Ofcom deals only with silent & abandoned calls. | ||
| Action Fraud | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not clearly suited to phone scams, unless fraud is in progress. | |
| Which? | Yes | Claims to forward complaints to the relevant place. |
Figure 52: Online complaints procedure
| Channel | Pages of form | Pages of instructions | Obligatory fields | Optional fields | Categories in drop-down menus | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICO | 3 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 22 | Allows up to 5 calls to be complained about at one time, and personal details to be reused if complaining again within a month. |
| TPS | 5 | 1 | 24 | 6 | 12, 32 | Must know company or number to use this. |
| Ofcom | 1 | 2 | 16 | 5 | - | Tricky Captcha hurdle. |
| Which? | 3 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 21 | In at least the TPS case, routes to TPS (to start again), despite company and calling number being unknown. |
The options in the ICO and TPS drop-down menus are shown below (those in the Which? form are almost the same as ICO’s). Ofcom’s diary survey categories are also shown for comparison. The highlights show how scams and surveys are described in these different lists. These options may confuse complainants and lead to similar experiences being differently categorised by different people, as well as by different systems.
| TPS: first dropdown menu Sales and marketing call Market research Recorded message Silent call (whereupon answering there is silence) Reverse call request Debt collection Overseas call SMS (text) alerts Text message Scam calls Suppression services that charge a fee Other (Nuisance, Abusive, Threatening) |
Ofcom diary research Market research/ Survey Computer/ maintenance/ support Scam calls e.g. banking/computer/passwords etc. PPI Home improvement e.g. boilers/ windows Phone/ Broadband Insurance (car/ health/ life etc.) Government schemes/grants/initiatives Financial Services/ products Accident claims/ compensation Energy company Debt repayment/advice/consolidation Banking/ Credit card Charity |
| TPS: second dropdown menu Adult Content Charities Cleaning (including Home, Car, Carpet, Window, Oven) Commercial Suppression Services (including Call Blockers) Competitions Debt Management i.e. Debt consolidation Energy Efficiency Installations (Solar Panels, grants etc.) Energy Supplier (Gas, Electricity etc) Financial Services (e.g. Credit Card, mortgage, Pensions etc) Flight Delays Gambling - i.e. lottery Health and Wellness - Alternative Medicine Holiday (e.g. offers on city breaks, cruises etc) Home Improvement - (Double Glazing, Kitchen, Windows etc.) Home Security - (Alarms etc.) Insurance (Including car, life and home) Investment (including wine, minerals, stocks and shares etc) Lead Generation/ Lifestyle Surveys (Attempting to gain consent for marketings calls) Mobility Equipments (Mobility Scooters, Stair lift aid etc.) Other Home Improvements Payment Protection Insurance Claim ( PPI) Personal Injury Compensation - (car accident, trip and fall, work related injury i.e. hearing loss etc.) Prank Calls Price Comparison (Insurance, broadband, etc.) Ruined Holiday (Packaged holiday not as contracted, food poisoning etc) Satellite tv Scams (Including calls offering technical support for a computer) Short term loan i.e. pay day loan Telecoms - (Landline, Mobile, Broadband) Warranty (including Satellite TV and Household items) Will writing |
ICO Accident claims Adult content Banking Broadband, phone, TV or other telecoms services Call blockers Charities Competition Computer scams - you should report these to Action Fraud Debt management Energy saving and home improvements, including double glazing, windows and insulation Energy supply Gambling Health Holidays Insurance (including car, life and home) Lifestyle surveys Oven cleaning Payday loans Payment Protection Insurance ( PPI) Pensions Silent / no answer - you should report these to Ofcom |
Contact
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback