LBM Direct Marketing Complaints and Correspondence:
November 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.
5/11/06
- The Daily Telegraph is reporting
that Ofcom are planning to fine some offenders,
including Carphone Warehouse (and LBM customer).
Fines can be up to £50,000.. which might give
the likes of LBM something to think about.
7/11/06
- "J" is an MD of a UK firm and says:
I have received more than 6 calls during
the last week – only calling once, and then stooping.
I have now tried to follow their advice to opt out.
The voice told me that I am charged “standard rates”
– the calls have been a pain in the a… and I am
happy to read about them. Such a company should
be black listed and banned!
8/11/06
- LBM aren't the only annoying marketing firm
around - "B" has received similar calls
from "New Logic Communications": I
just wanted to let everyone know that I have received
a spam call today on my mobile. The number
that rang me was 08450020012 [..]. I’m glad
I found this website, and I will not be answering
calls from numbers I don’t recognise in the future,
just in case!
11/11/06
- "P" suddenly found himself getting
spam calls from both LBM and another company at
the same time, and questions where the data comes
from:
I started receiving 0800 0641081
calls a few days ago - exactly as you described.
I
thought you'd like to know that at preciselky the
same time I also started receiving 'missed calls'
from 01895 204833 - so that could well be another
number they are using - for you to add to your site.
When
phoning back that one gives a recorded message from
'ICT Europe' saying they are a CRM management company
providing 'masking services' to 'many Fortune 500
companies in the banking and insurance industry'...
A
curious thing was that the call I made to them wouldn't
stop when I cut it off on my phone for about another
40 seconds...
Now it might be that my number
made it onto some list that LBM and ICT both use,
but in either case I thought you might be interested...
13/11/06
- An anonymous correspondent writes:
Thank
you!
God bless Google Gob bless Dynamoo.
OK,
I only had one call from them but it sounded odd
(dead) so I googled them and found you.
I
called their (now free) de-reg number 0800 013 6675
and had my number removed...
Watch this space.
If
they keep pestering people I'm happy to go up there
and burn a few of their directors' lawns.
It's
the only language they understand.
ps this
email is written in green ink and the warders have
promised to post it for me at the post office outside
Broadmoor.
(kidding...) (ish)
- "S" demonstrates that the quality
of data LBM are using is very poor indeed: I've
been having phone calls non-stop for the past few
days from 08450020012. As a rule i ignore numbers
i dont know, so i didnt answer. but after having
the same number call about five times a day for
a week i fianlly decided to answer the phone to
see why this number was calling.
I was
surprised that the man calling was asking to speak
to my sister, who shares the same initials as me.
i told him he had the wrong number and asked what
he wanted to speak to my sister about. he replied
that it was in regards to the o2 account of the
phone i was using. i was a bit confused as the phone
and all details about the phone were registered
to me and had no details about my sister whatsoever.
i told him that it was my phone and again he must
have the wrong number, he confirmed that his details
were for my phone number but to my sisters name.
i told him this couldnt be the case, and that i
would be phoning customer services to confirm that
my details are correct. he then hung up.
I called
o2 and they told me that all my details were all
in my name and that they had no information regarding
my sister on the account. I found this website
when i googled the number. i cant believe there
are so many people here being harrassed by these
people!!!
Update 16/11/06
- "E" has been harassed on her mobile
repeatedly:I
- Another "E" gets charged to opt
out of LBM's spam calls: I have had several
calls from the LBM number and I have been ignoring
them, however they became rather irritating so I
rang them and have gone through the process of stopping
them on their instructions. I now learn that
I have been charged for this call even though I
was told it would be on ‘Free phone’. Can you tell
me how much I have been charged for this call and
how they can get away with this?
- "C" is another TPS subscriber,
and he explains how LBM make deceptive calls:
I have been getting calls for months,
but through your website have only just found it
is LBM
Every night when I come home from
work, there is always a missed call on my home phone
from the 0800 064 1081number. This has been going
on for about 3 months. I am registered with the
TPS.
One night I was in when the phone rang,
and they were pretending to be from "The Monetary
Watchdog" investigating possible mortgage mis
selling. They asked a few vague questions
about my type of mortgage, didn't ask who the mortgage
was with!
I am getting fed up with all these
missed calls.
19/11/06
- "D" got hit by roaming charges
on his mobile.. thanks to spam calls from LBM: I
recently spent a period of almost three weeks travelling
in Europe, as is my habit my mobile was on all the
time. During this period I was receiving two or
three calls a day from LBM (0161-603-2400). The
first time a missed call came up I called the number
back (I have many friends in the Manchester area
and can't always remember their numbers!) and got
the message listed on your website.
As I
was outside the UK any calls I answer have a cost
to me (I have an Orange phone), so I spent almost
three weeks cancelling calls from this company.
When
I returned to the UK I received one further call,
which I answered to be greeted by silence and then
a disconnection. Strangely I have not received a
call from LBM since.
My mobile is registered
with TPS, so LBM should not contact me in any circumstances.
20/11/06
- "J" writes:
Hi - thankyou
for your very informative website - I have to say
it has been really useful to me.
Over the
last week I have been receiving calls from the number
0800 0136675 on my home phone, when I called the
number back I found out it was LBM and opted out
of receiving their calls. I must say I was surprised
to find them calling me when I am ex directory and
I make a point of asking companies I have dealings
with not to use my info for marketing.
I
had no idea who LBM were and considering they hang
up everytime they call I had no idea what they could
be calling about. So I googled the name and found
this website. I still dont know what they are calling
about. Usually I am at work all day so I just thought
I was missing their calls. However they called yesterday
(Sunday) and hung up so that was the first time
I realised they were dodgy. Today I am off work
sick and have been woken twice by the phone ringing
and then going dead - this has infuriated me and
I emailed their address to complain - who knows
what the response will be ! I am going to contact
watch dog as well as I just think its harassment
for them to keep calling like this.
I'll
keep you posted on the results of my complaint -
I'm not holding my breath!
23/11/06
- "H" is another person who has received
an unsolicited commercial email message from LBM:
From:
LBM [mailto:lbm@mail.e-msg.co.uk] Sent: [redacted] To:
[redacted] Subject: LBM E-Mail Notification
LBM
work with market leading companies to deliver business-to-business
information on products and services relevant to
you and your business. We would like to take the
opportunity to deliver relevant information to you
by email.
Each month we email more than
150,000 key decision makers with carefully targeted,
and often unique to email, offers that we believe
are relevant to them and their business. Our feedback
is that the service we offer is of great value to
the businesses that receive these offers and that
our receiving population finds it useful to have
relevant offers sent directly to them in an easily
actionable format.
Our process is to identify
companies to whom the information we provide, offers
in IT, fleet, energy, travel and telecoms, is likely
to be relevant and then to phone each organisation
and identify the contacts who would be most appropriate
to receive this information.
So to update
your details to ensure you only receive offers relevant
to you click on the "My Profile" link
below.
Links. Click here to change profile About
LBM Data Protection Privacy Statement LBM
are members of the Direct Marketing Association. LBM
are keen to adhere to the Data Protection Act 1999. Note
that LBM say they are "keen to adhere to the
Data Protection Act".. what kind of statement
is THAT?
24/11/06
- "P" was concerned enough to contact
Vodafone and ask for clarification:
I
too have been bombarded by marketing calls from
the 0800 064 0060 number, and also tracked this
back to LBM (thanks mainly to this website)
They
were fully aware of my Vodafone contract details,
and as the 18 month contract is nearing its end,
were offering me a very much better upgrade to my
handset but with no change to the contract. I was
very suspicious of this so e-mailed Vodafone’s Data
Protection office. I asked them to confirm that
LBM were working for them, and also suggested that
Vodafone put a message on their website to reassure
customers. Here’s Vodafone’s reply, from their Data
Protection Manager: ----- Dear
Mr X
Thank you for your email below. I
can confirm that LBM are an outsourced call centre
for Vodafone Limited. I appreciate that in
these times of cold calling and unsolicited marketing
messages, customers are cautious about the contacts
receive.
Thank you also for your suggestion
regarding providing an explanation about this on
our website. I will liaise with my colleague
who manages our relationship with LBM to determine
the best way of providing that information ie where
the explanation should be provided - this might
be in our privacy statment, but we might also want
to consider putting the same information in other
places on the website where customers can find it.
Thank
you for taking the time to provide this feedback
and I am sorry if you have been inconvenienced.
If you would like, I can change your marketing
preferences to opt out so that you dont receive
further calls? ----- So, it seems that
we don’t need to be suspicious... LBM really are
calling on behalf of Vodafone, really are offering
‘too good to be true’ deals, but also, yes, they
are persistent and rather annoying on the phone.
27/11/06
- "E" took action after a series
of calls and wrote to the Direct Marketing Association
(LBM's trade association) to complain:
I
have been called three times so far today by LBM
Direct Marketing Ltd - number 08000 510660. Upon
answering, the line goes dead. Twice today I have
called the number and opted out of these calls.
I have since received the third call.
I
found their website and the customer service number.
You are unable to talk to someone when calling that
number so I called the sales line and was put through
to the call centre customer service department who
said they will log my complaint with their account
department.
I asked who they were marketing
on behalf of and they simply said they were a large
company with many clients. They refused to give
me a client list or the names of any of their clients.
Had they done so, I would have contacted these companies
and also made them aware of the shoddy marketing
practices of LBM, a company they are paying to market
on their behalf.
I was asked whether I was
a member of the Telephone Preference Service. I
asked why I should be a member when I have opted
out of receiving any further calls from LBM via
their own service? They are missing the point entirely
and I so I am writing to make you aware of these
unwanted, nuisance calls and their unprofessional
attitude. I have searched on the internet for this
company and found many, many instances of people
who have the same problem with this company.
LBM
finally acted, but only after the Direct Marketing
Association had passed on the complaint:
[7/12/06]
Despite the promise of a call back from
LBM, they didn't contact me willingly until The
DMA passed on my complaint which prompted them to
phone me. I then received a phone call from the
Head of Compliance at LBM, Khurram Akram who
also gave me his mobile number. He promised to investigate
why I was contacted repeatedly, despite the number
being registered with the Telephone Preference Service,
and e-mail me with this findings. I am still awaiting
this e-mail (I resist the temptation to repeatedly
phone his mobile number and hang up each time he
answers).
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