LBM Direct Marketing Complaints and Correspondence:
July 2006
This page represent some of the emails we've received
about LBM Direct
Marketing, almost all of which are complaints. You
can read the full story here.
5/7/06: this current round of cold
calling is on behalf of O2. LBM appears to have subscriber
details - when they finally do talk to you rather than
putting the phone down, they greet you by name. In this
case the call came from 08000641081 (which identifies
itself as LBM when you call back). The caller denied
that they worked for LBM, and claimed to be working
for O2 (this is known in the trade as a lie).
Our attempts to talk to a supervisor at LBM resulted
in the caller putting the phone down. In this case,
they do seem to know the name of the subscriber (in
this case the phone had previously been with Vodafone
and then transferred to T-Mobile)
6/7/06: a visitor to the site reported
that they were called from the 0800 0641081 number
by someone claiming to represent Sky TV and offering
an "upgrade":
Tonight I had another call this time a young chap spoke to me. He said he was from Sky (Digital TV) and wanted to know if I'd be interested in an upgrade or additional features to my service. I was in two minds... I agreed but refused to give my details when asked stating I've been receiving slient calls. The caller offered to give my viewing card number as proof, I agreed. The caller sounded most surprised saying most people give there details at that point. The number they gave was totally wrong, instead they stated my account number for which I couldn't verify but the deal was the viewing card number. Needless to say they closed the call down quickly.
I have contacted Sky who say the do not use LBM.. if this is collecting personal details under a false banner then these people must be brought to account.
7/7/06:
"GH" reports: I had a call
earlier on my mobile, which is PAYG and on virgin.
the chap said his name was vic calling from
O2 in manchester. However seeing as i have had
no previous contact with O2 and on PAYG phone,
i replied 'not interested' and hung up, as it
was obvious it was a spam call! this was from
0800 064 1081 as well.
9/7/06: LBM's marketing
techniques have come the the attention of The Observer newspaper
in this
item.
LBM, a marketing agency, says it phoned on
behalf of a client it would not name but where you
are a customer and had agreed to be contacted, which
overrides the TPS ban. But LBM did discover a problem
with the automated dialler that called you and has
taken it out of service.
When call centres cannot get through, they
must not try again for 72 hours. But you were being
called daily because the software interpreted your
answer machine as a person's voice.
10/7/06:
- "H" reported: I
was contacted last Thursday from a guy claiming
he was from O2 in Manchester. I asked
twice if he was phoning from them direct as
have had many phone calls of this nature. He
said twice that he was directly from O2. I
was completely mislead by the phone call, I
said that I didn't want to order my phone that
day as didn't want to start my contract until
the end of the month. He said my phone
would take at least 7 days to be delivered due
to popularity of the handset - I have recieved
the handset today, the first payment is leaving
my bank account on the 21st of this month -
again I was told this wouldn't be until August.
He also said I could change my payment
date after the first payment has been taken,
I have been informed by O2 that this cannot
take place until 3 payments have been made.
- "Z" reported: Despite my works mobile number being registered with
the telephone preference service to avoid spam calls,
these fools had to try it.
I received multiple calls from 08000641081 and on the
few occasions I managed to answer my phone in time I
received nothing but silence or voices in the
background.
Bearing in mind, as a corporate
mobile user, my phone is listed on the telephone
preference service I'm wondering why they decided
to start annoying me? Are they targetting corporate
users specifically..?
11/7/06:
- It appears that sending a request to enquiries@lbm.co.uk
that they cease calling you may be a useful
way to stop the calls.
- There's an indication
that the numbers calling might actually be masking
the true number of a call centre in India or
in other countries.
12/7/06:
- "D" reported: I Have been
called at home by this number three times in
the last week. The last phone call the guy said
he was representing Sky and was offering an
upgrade. The first thing he asked was my secret
question, At that point I asked for proof that
he was from sky and he hung up.
- LBM finally discovered this site by Googling
for "LBM" so there's been quite a
lot of visitors from 213.38.132.131. Most people
find the site after typing in the telephone
numbers that have been calling them... a lot of
people. Top tip for LBM: if you don't
want people to find this page, then change your
marketing techniques. If anyone from LBM would
like to email a statement or apology then please
go ahead.
13/7/06
- "S" reported: I had abdominal
surgery on tuesday so have been off work following
it to recover. On wednesday I had three calls
on my landline which rang once and hung up.
Getting woken up when you've finally managed
to drop off without painkillers is annoying,
more so when it's marketing rubbish like this! I
think that "S" goes to prove that
LBM's contribution to society is simply to add
a little to human suffering.
- "EL" reported: Thanks for
your web site. This company keeps calling my
mobile from 08000641081 five times a day for
the last few days. I dialled the 0845 number
to remove my number from their database, although
I extremely resent them profiting from that!
These people should be paying fines for nuisance
calls, not forcing their victims to pay them
to go away.
14/7/06
- "A" reported the level of harassment
that some customers have received from LBM:
Over
the last 3 days the number of calls I have received
from LBM has rocketed - 10 in total: 5 today
, 1 the day before and 4 the day before that.
In total I've been called 15 times [over
two weeks] and when I actually manage to get
to the phone before it stops ringing, there
is never anyone there. The majority of
the time it has me flying across the room with
my arm outstretched to get the phone which then
subsequently stops after the 1st or 2nd ring
(were talking seconds here) and I'm left skidding
to a halt! It has started to get to the
point of being a challenge to see if I can actually
answer it before it stops ... along the lines
of who's the fastest draw (on the phone)!
It
doesn't appear to make any difference if I answer
it or it drops out before hand ... they still
ring again and definitely within a 72 hour period.
It's always the same number - 0800 0641081,
usually in the afternoon or evening, and always
to my home phone (which is ex-directory &
registered with TPS).
Full log of calls
follows :- 30.06.06 17:36 03.07.06 18:22 04.07.06
16:19 08.07.06 16:37 10.07.06 13:41 11.07.06
13:23 11.07.06 14:15 11.07.06 14:52 11.07.06
16:44 - I wasn't at home this day and came back
to 4 missed calls, my home phone does have an
answer machine, but I've no way of knowing if
the call dropped out before hand or hit that
and interpreted it as a human voice answering. 12.07.06
19:46 - 1 ring then dropped out before I could
answer 13.07.06 13:18 - 1 ring then dropped
out before I could answer 13.07.06 15:42
- 2 rings before I could answer then it dropped
out 13.07.06 16:49 - 1 ring before I answered
(getting quicker), silence on other end,
I then spoke and it seemed line was dropped
at that point 13.07.06 17:51 - 1 ring before
I answered, line was dropped immediately 13.07.06
18:45 - 1 ring before I answered, line was dropped
immediately
- "J" gave some words of encouragment
(thanks!)
Can I just say thank you
very much for the website that you have set
up concerning the prank phone calls from the
company LBM. I have emailed their enquiries
department and will hopefully not be hearing
from them again. The information that you have
posted on your site is very useful and I do
appreciate you hosting it and maintaining it.
A copy of the email I have sent this morning
is at the bottom of the email, I hope that I
will not have to come back for more information
as to what to do about this annoyance.
- Hello to LBM (including the people
in Belfast!) on 194.205.166.230 and 212.248.198.2.
You've been visiting a lot over
the past couple of days. Are you proud to
work for a company that people hate so much?
17/7/06
- "G" reports: I've been called at least twice a day by these half-wits.
- "T" says:
I sent the attached email to LBM today...lets
see if I get a response.....I have had 10 calls
within the last 2 weeks and I am really losing
my patience. I refuse to call the 0845 number
and pay to stop these calls:
Why is your
company constantly ringing me with unsolicited
calls, which when I answer there is noone there
and when I ring back the number there is a recorded
message stating I have to ring an 0845 number
to STOP these calls!!! Why the hell should I
have to pay to stop calls I never asked for
in the first place!!!???
- "F" reported that he too
has received a lot of annoying calls from LBM.
18/7/06
- "A" reports: I have been pestered by this phone number - 0800 064 1081 - sometimes three times a day for the past month.
- "L" says: I noticed
a missed call on my mobile when I was at work
three weeks ago. I called the number back,
using the work phone, and received the same
recorded message stated on your website. I
dialled the 0845 number (again from the work
phone) and entered my mobile number in order
to opt out of this call. [...] The thing
that is irritating me now, is that even though
I have apparently opted out, I am STILL getting
the phone calls! I have received two in
the space of a couple of hours.
19/7/06
- "W" shares some experiences:
I've been phoned today (19th July) on a landline
registered with TPS. This is the second time
in two weeks that LBM has phoned my number.
I have no intention of calling its 0845 number,
and Ofcom say "We do not investigate individual
consumer complaints." Fat load of use that
is!
20/7/06
- "S" is another person who's
week off has been spoiled by LBM: Thanks
so much for your website - we've been getting
these calls in the evening for a couple of weeks,
but I'm off work this week and they're coming
through three or four times a day. The same
thing is happening to me as reported by others
- hang-ups after one or two rings or no-one
there when I pick up. I have today e-mailed
LBM as suggested, so fingers crossed (and I
know if the worst comes to the worst, I can
call the 0845 number - but I grudge lining their
grubby little pockets!)
- "G" was rather more direct
in his opinion: these people are absolute
scum. As soon as you get off one list they open
another.
- "J" gives an update showing
that LBM have a new phone number: I'm
on caller preference and received my first call
from them tonight, they seem to have changed
there freephone number to 08000510660. My suggestion
is to call the freephone number as many times
as you have time to and maybe they will make
an even bigger loss this year... :) so come
on give it a call weather you have had a call
from them or not... Maybe also call the 0161
929 5799 number out of office hours and leave
them a message telling them exactly what you
think of them.
- "K" reports her experiences
with LBM: Even though I've been registered
with TPS for 12 months I've received a call
from these fools two evenings in a row, both
times the call ended before I could answer.
I've registered a silent call complaint with
OFCOM and have emailed the address you provided
above. Thank you for the valuable information
you have on your site.
- "S" is another TPS subscriber
who has been called by LBM: Hi, I've just received
a call from LBM with the line going dead etc
and the 08000 number displayed on my phone.
I curious how this has happened as I am already
subscribed to TPS so don’t know where they got
my home number from?
21/7/06
- "Z" gives another example of
how distressing these calls can be.. at the
moment it's hard to say if she's been hit by
roaming costs for receiving the calls while
abroad:
My never ending phone
calls started the day after I landed in Greece
on the 8th July! Imagine it, trying to relax
on a long awaited holiday and being pestered
every three hours by this number (08000641081).
A relative is going through a very serious illness
at the moment and being on holiday made me very
anxious so every time the phone rang I dashed
to it not knowing who might be calling. It makes
my blood boil knowing that these people are
getting away with this.
It was the last
straw for me this morning (after my 27th call!)
so called it from my work phone. It was a recorded
message, stating if I wanted a follow up call
(who in their right mind would?!) to do nothing,
or if I wanted to stop the calls to ring 0845
045 4455.
I have been discussing
the matter with a colleague who sits next to
me only to discover she has had the exact same
thing over the last couple of weeks! How are
they getting our numbers? I never give my permission
for my details to be passed onto third parties.
Something
needs to be done. I called my phone company
(Vodafone) and there is no record of this number
ever calling me, despite it showing on my phone.
I am just so angry that people have to be charged
to get rid of a phone call we don’t even want!
I have called LBM directly to voice
my anger at them, and the girl on the phone
said that the calls are made automatically,
so if you don’t answer or hang up, they will
keep calling until they speak to you, which
is a load of rubbish because I have answered
nearly every call (purely out of curiosity and
the hope that there would be someone to shout
at the other end!) and there was never anybody
there!
22/7/06
- Problems with LBM's dialling system were reported
way back in 2001 by an LBM employee called
Mike Fitch in the CallCentreVoice
forum - "This new system is paintented
in the U.S, it gets rid of the need for manual dial,
or using "line lists" to go through records.
This system ALSO, to solve problems such as disconnected,
answerphones etc, dial 10 numbers at a time and
whichever has a person answering first is the call
you are given. Now.. the problem is, the other 9
numbers it dials get hung up on, so therefore 9
people are getting two rings and then having the
phone put down on them, HAHA, very funny the first
two times....but after getting them all day/week/month
they start to get annoyed... is this going a little
TO far??" However, a few weeks after publicly
posting about these problems, he was sacked
(although there is currently no proof that the posting
and the employment termination are connected).
- In 2004 there was a telemarketing even in Manchester
attended by James Bain who was the head of
Dialler operations at LBM. He is quoted
as saying "outbound calling is area
that is changing rapidly all the time, so call centres
need to be aware of the latest guidelines and directives.
It was refreshing to see things from the consumer
side of the fence, as well as to listen to practical
examples of how simple data management principles
contribute to minimising customer dissatisfaction"
- a lesson that LBM clearly didn't take on board.
Interestingly the same
article goes on to say: On a daily basis
between 3,000 and 5,000 numbers are lost due to
grievances over silent calls and/or fax tones.
- A newsletter at the excellent David
Hickson's Silent Calls Bulletin carries another
report
about silent calling from LBM and indicates that
it is a flaw in the automatic dialling system.
- In March 2004, Ben Dixon (LBM's CEO) was quoted
in another
article dealing with the "silent calls
crisis". Dixon is quoted as saying "[It
is vital] to train managers and team leaders to
ensure we get it right at every level, and not just
focus on the training agents". It's pretty
clear that LBM have failed to "get it right
at every level".
24/7/06
- "K" says: Received a
phone call tonight from this number on my landline
and it went dead as soon as answered 1471 gave
me the number and when dialled it was an automated
response saying LBM was acting on behalf of
a client. I have registered complaint with Ofcom
and TPS (as I am registered with them) and have
registered with the silent callguard so we will
see what happens. I had a problem with nuisance
calls to my mobile phone on behalf of companies
like 3, vodafone and O2 a number of months ago.
- "D" emailed: Thanks
for the useful web site. I got over ten calls
from LBM and the idea that you have to pay to
stop them is really out of order. The sooner
this sort of thing is legislated against the
better.
27/7/06
- "L" reported: I have
had a couple of calls to my mobile recently
which I have not answered, mainly because I
am currently working in Europe and don't recognise
the number. I tried ringing back the number
today from a landline and was given the 0845
0454455 number to ring. Rather than ring it
I searched for it online and found this web
site. Thanks for the info, I won't be calling
the 0845 number! The number I received calls
from is not listed on your site. It is: 0207
0549003
- "B"'s opinion reflects that
of many other people: This is a nuisance
company extorting normal phone users. it should
not be allowed for these companies to contact
phone owners and then hang up. if this was a
person they would be liable for harassment under
law. They disgust me and i hope they soon cease
trading.
- "J" says: I have been
called twice today, once from 0800 0510660 and
once from 0800 0136662 which may be a new number
to add to your list. In both cases when the
call is answered the line goes dead.
28/7/06
- "S" demonstrates how the cold
callers from LBM try to hide their true identity:
At around 4:30pm today, I received a phone
call from a "private number" and the
caller said they were working for O2, so I pushed
them if they were really working for O2, and
twice he said yes. I sid "Not LBM then?"
to which he responded "well, it's a joint
O2/LBM number" and I thanked him and hung
up.
10 minutes later, I had another call
from a private number, which I answered and
found out it was O2 again. I said I had just
been called 10 minutes ago, he asked who had
called - I was not given a name and responded
so - he quickly spat out his name and said he
wished to save me money, if I'd tell him my
phone company. This struck me as stupid because
you should know who someones operator is from
their number. I asked how he got my number and
said it was on a list that said I was happy
to receive such calls, so I hung up.
10
minutes later, another call from a private number,
but after 1 ring and being answered, it was
silent.
I'm currently making a complaint
to Ofcom..
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