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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 06:15 PM
Village Forum

Thread: What constitutes cold-calling?
What constitutes cold-calling?
Posted: Thursday, June 26, 2008 11:20 PM
With Northwood being a No Cold-Calling zone, what actually constitutes cold-calling?
Pretty much every day I return home from work to find a selection of advertising leaflets delivered by Royal Mail along with my post (or on occassions when I have no post, just leaflets).
Is having advertising leaflets put through your door any different from someone knocking on your door trying to sell you products?
Discuss


Comments:

Author Thread:
?
What constitutes cold-calling?
Posted: Friday, June 27, 2008 3:46 AM (BST)
I agree it is a most annoying and apparently growing trend that advertisers have adopted to get around the number of people who have registered with the Mail Preference Service, which should prevent junk-mail from being delivered to the registered persons. But all this rubbish is not addressed to any particular person, somtimes to "The Occupier", mainly from such insurance companies as Churchill and More Than. The leaflets of course have no addressee at all. It seems that the Post Office can turn a blind eye to your requests if there is a profit in it for them.
It may not be cold-calling in the true sense, but it is just as annoying if you have registered with MPS.
My reaction has for a long time been to simply write "Not Wanted - return to sender" on the envelope and pop it back in the nearest Royal Mail mail box, and let the Royal Mail deal with it. The same goes for glossy leaflets from Plumbs and Hillarys - they all get re-posted. If you receive unsolicited mail from a company do the same and they will have to pay for it to be returned to themselves - they soon stop sending then. I am sure if everyone sent back unwanted mail the practice would seem less attractive to both the sender and the deliverer.

?
What constitutes cold-calling?
Posted: Friday, June 27, 2008 4:47 AM (BST)
Addressed mail - register with MPS
Unaddressed mail - request Royal Mail not to deliver it.

(This came up recently when a postman was disciplined for pro-actively telling his residents how to stop the mail (and therefore the revenue stream for his employer) IIRC)

?
What constitutes cold-calling?
Posted: Friday, June 27, 2008 7:46 AM (BST)
If anyone wishes to register with the Mailing Preference Service, the address is:
www.mpsonline.org.uk

and the Telephone Preference Service address is:
www.tpsonline.org.uk

The Direct Marketing Association also gathers all these services together on their website:
http://www.dma.org.uk/content/Prf-introduction.asp

It should be noted however that you will need to re-register your details regularly as each registration only lasts five years. But I have found it very effective - except in the case of the piles of advertising material forced on you by the postman which he delivers with your ordinary mail.

?
What constitutes cold-calling?
Posted: Sunday, June 29, 2008 11:57 PM (BST)
Thanks for your positive replies