Calling customer services...a process that makes thousands of us rage with anger every single day!!
You call a "customer service" line to ask a question or to complain, they place you on hold while they poison your brain with really annoyingly crap music, and then they play pass the parcel with you from section to section...
...and if that isn't bad enough, the company that is supposedly "helping" you pockets your money, often at premium-rate prices!!
It's enough to make you scream...and many of us probably do!
However, growing numbers of you are now getting your own back on the companies which so often tell us that our "calls may be recorded". We the consumers are now taping the conversations in the hope that customer service staff buck their ideas up when told they are under scrutiny.
If they do not, or if promises are not honoured, the caller can send the recordings to the company with a request for action, or even use them in court!
It is legal to record all calls without telling the person you speak to, provided that it is for your own use.
But if you intend to share the call with a third party (i.e. for use as evidence in a small claims court) the failure to explain that you are taping the conversation at the start of the call could lead to a civil prosecution.
EasyCallRecording.co.uk is a new website that enables you to record and download telephone calls for 10p a minute (including the cost of the call) and has helped many of its users score consumer victories against big names including Dell and Excel Airways.
Ben Fry, who set up the site was inspired by the "terrible trouble" that he and his wife had with the call centre staff of two household names. Mr. Fry advises consumers to record all conversations where money is at stake with calls to insurers and banks especially important.
A prime example is when Montague Kobbe recorded a conversation he had with his bank. He used it to prove that he had not requested loan insurance at £14.99 a month after he spotted it as an extra on his bill. His email to the customer services, with the recording attached, was answered with an instant refund. Service since then has been "excellent". (no surprise there!)
Meanwhile, Natalie Bishop used the service to record a series of calls to British Airways in the run-up to her holiday with her boyfriend to Barbados. When BA's check-in staff said that she had not bought upgrades, she said she had and told them that files of the relevant telephone calls could be accessed online in minutes.
It turned out that the operator had agreed to book the seats but had failed to process the payment. The result: free upgrades worth £600!
EasyCallRecording.co.uk's system appeals greatly as it requires no technical knowledge and is fairly straightforward to use.
- To use the service dial 0871 2385555.
- You will be given a PIN code and put through to the number you want to dial.
- To access the recording, dial 0871 2386666 and enter your PIN.
- You must register online to download free audio files of calls, which are otherwise deleted after a year.
- Their current pay-as-you-go service allows you to record calls to UK landlines, 0845 and 0800 numbers only.
- A subscription service set to launch this week will allow members to record incoming calls as well as calls to all British and international telephone numbers, including 0870 numbers, from 12.5p a minute.
However, it is possible to record calls in other ways.The founder of Callsmayberecorded.co.uk, on which people post their recordings to name and shame complacent companies, says that users of Skype, the internet telephone provider, can download software to do the same job.
A lower-tech solution is an old-fashioned cassette recorder and a telephone-to-recorder adapter and these are available from Maplin, the high street retailer, for about £35.
You could also try bluffing as the merest mention of the process can transform customer service!
Neil Fowler, editor of the consumer magazine Which? says: "Simply telling a company that you are recording the call could be very effective, whether or not you actually record it."
Mr. Fowler and the Information Commissioner's Office both point out that you can also ask companies for transcripts of their telephone calls if these have been recorded!
Customer Service rip off tips!
- From next January new rules from Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, will bring 0870 rates into line with standard landline rates.
- In the meantime, ask for a refund whenever you are kept on hold for more than a few minutes or when you are not satisfied with the service you receive.
- Recording your calls could increase your chances of a payout and should ensure speedier service. Invest in a recorder or visit EasyCallRecording.co.uk or Callsmayberecorded.co.uk.
Read here what we wrote about customer service numbers and just how much they cost you!