LBM Direct Marketing Complaints and Correspondence: November 2007

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.

6/11/07

• "J" says:
  Since Monday I've been receiving calls from 0800 952 4854 which I understand from you website is LBM marketing.  I have not taken the calls and have signed up for TPS.  I thought I'd bring it to your attention that this is still a number they are using.  

 7/11/07

• "S" has been pestered:
  I too have been pestered by lbm for several weeks, they will ring my mobile up to 4 times a day with their silent calls. I have phoned them and opted out from recieving the ring back calls but still the silent calls keep coming. I have now contacted offcom to complain and their customer services.  

7/11/07

• Another "S" annoys LBM for a nice change:
  After missing a number of calls from 0800 0641087 I finally managed to answer a call from these people saying they are calling on behalf of O2 regarding my contract. I pointed out I have nothing to do with O2 (seeing as i'm with T-Mobile) and quoted the data protection act to have my details removed from their systems and receive no further calls. A very grumpy "fine" from the gentleman and the other end and then he hung up. So lets see if i get any further calls. 

14/11/07

• LBM are really taking the mickey with this one, according to "T":
  Came home from work today to find that there was 15 messages on the answerphone! Played them all back and all were blank with no message, so did 1471 to find that I had been contacted by LBM. rang the freephone number to stop any follow up calls. A real nuisance as my partner works nights, so had interrupted sleep all day due to the amount of times this company rang!

15/11/07

• "C's" experience is atypical, but makes for a fascinating read:
  I received a disturbing call from LBM on Tuesday. The operator claimed to be calling from o2 in Manchester to discuss my contract package and see what offers were available. (I am not on the o2 network, for what it's worth).
  
  I told him that I was registered on the TPS list and that his company was in breach by calling me. I repeatedly asked him if he was calling from o2 directly or from a third party and he repeatedly told me he was calling from o2 directly.
  
  He briefly tried to defend his actions but then he surprised me by saying: "I'm calling about your computer advertised on Loot."
  
  In case you are not aware, Loot is a classifieds newspaper and website (http://www.loot.co.uk). I was selling a second hand computer which was listed on that site along with my telephone number (for use by prospective purchasers only).
  
  I asked him if he was calling to sell me a phone or to buy my computer - he said the latter. I asked him for a final time if he was from o2 or a third party and he said he was from o2 in Suffolk (note, he'd originally said Manchester).
  
  The operator was fairly unpleasant in his manner, unsure about the details of the computer he was purporting to wish to purchase and certainly didn't seem to me to be simply using the 'work phone' for personal business (if this was the case, in my opinion, he should not have been asking about my mobile telephone contract).
  
  A search on the web for the number that called me (0800 0641087) found your site and led to me contact Khurram Akram, LBM's Compliance Officer.
  
  Khurram at first tried to claim it must have been because I had previously given o2 consent to call me from a time when I used to use o2. I asked him to supply me with a copy of that consent, which he said he would have to request from o2. (To my knowledge I have never given them consent to contact me with offers or to pass my details to a third party).
  
  To Mr Akram's credit, when I explained further what I thought had happened (i.e. the operator had taken my number from Loot, and called me in contravention of the TPS), he took it rather more seriously and agreed with me that it was unlikely that the operator got the number from o2. He told me all calls were recorded and he would review the call and get back to me.
  
  He has now got back to me. He said he has reviewed the call and, based on what he heard - LBM have suspended the operator for gross misconduct pending a disciplinary hearing next week.
  
  Mr Akram told me that the operator worked at the Bredbury call centre, and that the manager there was also conducting an investigation in to the call and the use of the Loot website to obtain my telephone number.
  
  Obviously I only have Mr Akram's word for this, but - given that my case is a clear breach of the TPS - I feel they should be taking me seriously. Hopefully I am not being naive, but reading your website I am not so sure. I am recording this in an email now so that if I receive further unwanted communications from them I have some contemporaneous record of what happened this time.
  
  So that they can add this to their files on this company, I have also decided to attach this email to a complaint to the Information Commission's Office by filling out a form here.
  
  I am making a complaint to the ICO because I do not feel entirely comfortable about LBM passing the buck on to an individual member of staff. I suspect that - if callers are picking numbers of the Internet - this practice is more widespread than any individual member of staff. It seems to me that in a call centre environment - whereby telephone calls and Internet usage is logged -  this would only be done with the knowledge of LBM. Obviously I have no way of proving that so it is only an opinion. If the ICO are interested, I hope they take it up with LBM.
  
  I also hope that the individual member of staff is not made scapegoat for a wider problem with a company which, judging by your website, is well known for its unpleasant behaviour in making these marketing calls. It is not nice for anyone to lose their job.
  
  It may be especially useful to note to your visitors that LBM record all calls and their compliance officer Mr Akram will review the call if you press the issue. 

19/11/07

• "D" writes:
  Just started to get calls myself from 0800 7831574, which I believe is one of LBM`s numbers. I never answer, the answering machine cuts in and caller clears. Check 1471 and that`s the number. 

21/11/07

• "S" says that she's suffered a double whammy:
  Just a quick note to thank you for your website at www.dynamoo.com.
  
  Hi been getting calls every two hours for a while now, thank you for the site, I have emailed them to tell them to stop.  Strangely my Mum has been getting the same every two hours on the half hour its driving us both mad

22/11/07

• "M" has complained to Ofcom:
   Thought i would drop i line to let you know that i to have been pestered by LBM..
  
  They keep phoning me up and have done for a week or two now, they started on about phone contracts i told them i am not intrested and to remove from they system. Guess what..... i still get calls from them and even had two calls where no one speaks! lord knows how many more i will get now.... although i have complaind to OFCOM.
  
  I get calls early morning or late evening, the latest being on the  22/11/07 at 17:38.
  
  Now they started to ring and then hang up when my answer machine picks the call up, sometimes i have 4 messages on there but the person never speaks!!!! so why leave a "blank" message!!
  
  Thank god for 1471 and google !!!!

27/11/07

• "L" is another TPS subscriber:
   I received two phone calls from LBM in two days, both at rather inconvenient times. After the first one, I googled the phone number (An 0800 number, and I do this anytime I get an 0800 number and the like) and it referred me to your website. It gave me a lot of useful information and some other customer experience. The next day, I received another phone call from this, which I answered. The caller claimed to be from O2 (which I knew they were not), called me Madam and asked if I was on my mobile phone. I figured that if they were from O2 they would know my name and the fact I was on my mobile phone. I told them I was not interested in what they were trying to sell me and that I knew who they were calling from. He tried to convince me otherwise, and I warned him that I was on the Telephone Preference Service and that if they rang me again I would report them to a higher authority (I already had, as a matter of fact, I’d done it the day before) and I hung up on them. As fun as it is to shout at them when you know better, I still find them annoying. Hope this one of many complains Im making will help matter and ensure other people don’t have to deal with this hassle.

29/11/07

• "X" has been getting the silent treatment:
  i have been recieving missed phone calls (as they only let it ring once or twice!) for the past couple of days, when i phone them back the answerphone message is the same of that on your website, saying that they are from orange, (my mobile network provider) im hoping they'll give up after a while!