LBM Direct Marketing Complaints and Correspondence: August 2008

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.

11/8/08

• "A" managed to get off the list:
  I am just writing to you about LBM, they have been ringing me for the past few months and they i came across your website and they rang me whilst i was reading the Ex employee's email. It worked like a treat. They said they were calling from Orange and asked me what network i was on and how much it cost, to which they said they could do better. then they kind of lost interest when i said they i had over 12 months left on my line rental, they asked if they could contact me when i was going to upgrade, to which i declined and i asked where they got my info from they said they got it from a database so i asked it to be removed and they said it would be done. so hopefully no more nuisance calls from them. thanks  

21/8/08

•  "L" comes up with a suggestion that we don't really recommend:
   Another tactic, especially useful to mobile customers who would otherwise have to pay to opt out is to fax them over the internet.
  
  You can do this free from a web page at http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html
  
  They have their fax number 0161 929 4983 which needs to be entered as an international number i.e. 44161 929 4983
  
  You need to give an email address and it needs to be valid, so use one of theirs such as christineh @lbm.co.uk (enquiries@, paceyk@, Townsendv@, batesm@, or beamishn@ would probably work too)

22/8/08

• "D" is an ex-employee who clarifies things:
  Hi, I have just quit my job with LBM, where I worked for almost [redacted] weeks.
  
  I was told that even if someone was registered with the TPS, then they could have been opted in to market research calls again since they registered, making their TPS registration somewhat invalid. We were told that the data was filtered and used legally and that we would have been breaking the law if we rang people who had not opted in at some point. Someone was fired whilst I was there for trying to sell to people whose numbers he found in the Yellow Pages etc.
  
  When it came to people who objected to having been called, it was sometimes the case that we had the wrong details, and hence the wrong number. There also seemed to be a pattern whereby if the number ended in 111 or 999, then the details were wrong, which made me suspect that people had deliberately changed part of their own number in order to avoid getting marketing calls whilst still entering competitions etc with their Email address or whatever.
  
  I didn't like telling people that we were from O2 when we were not, however that is the script we were given, and the clients (Orange, O2, AOL etc) who were outsourcing their marketing needs to LBM most definitely approved of this practice. All calls were recorded, and there were a number of things we were not allowed to say, as directed ultimately by the clients, true things that nonetheless we had to omit, else we would have had our bonus canceled. Examples being: you can change from paper billing (extra charge) to paperless via email if you chose to later; you can cancel 30 day contracts by giving 30 days notice with no penalties.
  
  Anyway, we were under pressure to get regular sales, and lying to the customers was common practice, approved of and endorsed by the management. Examples being - we will see if we can get approval from our manager to give you this or that, when the deals were set in stone by the client and could easily be arranged in exactly the same way by the customer by visiting the client's website; telling customers that they are only getting offered the deal because they were loyal customers of the clients, when they were clearly open to all.
  
  Not the most heinous of lies, but still deceptive and sneaky in most ordinary people's opinions.
  
  Funny things that happened: Customer says 'Oh this is the O2 scam isn't it?', 'If you put this number in to Google, it comes up with O2 Scam, Goodbye!'; another customer says 'I went down to the O2 shop and asked if the company did phone people up to sell to them, and they said they definitely didn't, so on that basis I will not be talking to you'. Technically, the guy in the shop was correct, but O2 do pay LBM to do it.