Mistaken Identity phone harassment

bronaghc · 31-01-2012 1:17pm #1

For over a year now I have been getting phonecalls once or twice a day from Santander Cards asking to speak to Ms Caroline Hamilton. Despite telling them I AM NOT such a person, they continue to harass me and say they will only remove my number from their system if I tell them my own name and address. Surely this is illegal? Somedays I just cut the call off but somedays Im so angry I answer to ask them to please stop calling me. Any advice is appreciated

Wile E. Coyote · 31-01-2012 1:30pm

bronaghc wrote: »

For over a year now I have been getting phonecalls once or twice a day from Santander Cards asking to speak to Ms Caroline Hamilton. Despite telling them I AM NOT such a person, they continue to harass me and say they will only remove my number from their system if I tell them my own name and address. Surely this is illegal? Somedays I just cut the call off but somedays Im so angry I answer to ask them to please stop calling me. Any advice is appreciated

You could always give them a false name and address.

I also thought there was a banking code of conduct where a lender was limited to the amount of times they could contact someone.

benway · 31-01-2012 1:33pm

"Section wrote:

13.—(1) Any person who—

(a) sends by telephone any message that is grossly offensive, or is indecent, obscene or menacing, or

(b) for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety to another person―

(i) sends by telephone any message that the sender knows to be false, or

(ii) persistently makes telephone calls to another person without reasonable cause,

commits an offence.

(2) A person found guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on conviction―

(a) if tried on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €75,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both, or

(b) if tried summarily, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both.

(3) A contravention of this section is an offence under the Post Office Act 1908.

(4) On convicting a person for an offence under subsection (1), the court may, in addition to any other penalty imposed for the offence, order any apparatus, equipment or other thing used in the course of committing the offence to be forfeited to the State.

(5) In this section, ‘message’ includes a text message sent by means of a short message service (SMS) facility.”.

Now, whether a faceless call-centre employee could be held liable under that section is doubtful. After all, it's probably been different people calling. And I'm pretty certain - open to correction, of course - that this section wouldn't apply to Santander as a corporate person. Any Fremen out there might help with that.

Plus, you could hardly say that the calls are "for the purpose" of causing annoyance, even if that's their net effect.

Next time you get a call, I'd ask to speak to the manager, then ask to speak to the manager's manager, and tell them that you intend to go to the Gardaí if you get one more call, and cite that section - even if a successful prosecution is highly unlikely, it should make them take notice. I'd also find an address for their customer service department and put it all in writing.

I personally don't think that they have any right to your name and address, but I don't see the harm in giving it to them if they're insisting, so long as you also point out their responsibilities under the Data Protection Acts and that you don't consent to your details being held on file or any further contact being made.

bronaghc · 31-01-2012 4:22pm

thanks for your comments guys, I'll give all off your suggestions a try!

Delancey · 31-01-2012 5:11pm

I had a work colleague who had the same problem and despite speaking to managers in MBNA he eventually had to get his Solicitor to threaten them before the hassle stopped.