Unwanted telemarketers still calling? Complain more, says CRTC

The CRTC’s do-not-call list is a huge success. Close to 10 million Canadian residential phone numbers (landline, cellular and fax) are now barred to telemarketers.

But even if you register your number, you may still hear from pesky people trying to sell you services you don’t want.

You may hear from people claiming to be certified Microsoft technicians, warning your computer is at risk of crashing and destroying all your files.

They can bother you day after day. And if they gain your confidence, they can install malicious software on your computer and invade your privacy.

You registered your number. So, why can’t you stop the annoying calls?

The problem is that many telemarketing scams originate outside Canada. Your caller may be from India, but is using a fake number or blocking your call display altogether.

Six out of 10 people who get in touch with the CRTC complain about abuses of the do-not-call (DNC) rules. Half a million complaints have been filed since the list was set up in fall 2008.

Yet Andrea Rosen, chief CRTC telecommunications enforcement officer, thinks Canadians don’t complain enough. She wants to get even more telemarketing complaints.

“We’ll never have the resources to look into each and every one of them,” she said in an interview.

“Suppose you make a complaint once and you get subsequent calls from the same telemarketer. You should call us back.”

The CRTC needs to see a certain volume — at least one complaint a day — about a company before doing an investigation. It can make telemarketers pay dearly for their transgressions.

In December 2010, Bell Canada paid a record $1.3 million penalty for calling people who asked not to be called. Xentel DM Inc. paid $500,000 for misusing the exemption for charitable organizations.

GoodLife Fitness Centres paid a $300,000 penalty last August for using automated calling devices to deliver a recorded sales message to members without first asking for their consent.

These enforcement actions have yielded more than $2.1 million in penalties from corporate offenders and $740,000 paid to colleges and universities.

When it comes to foreign telemarketers, the CRTC made a precedent-setting deal last October with two Mexican companies selling vacation packages to Canadians on the do-not-call list.

After thousands of people complained about Marketing 4 Sunset Group and Cancun Unlimited’s telemarketing activities, the CRTC worked with Mexico’s consumer protection agency to stop the unwanted calls.

The two offenders now obey the same rules as Canadian telemarketers do, subscribing to the do-not-call list and not using automated calling devices without getting consent.

Also, they can’t falsely suggest a business relationship with well-known Canadian companies, as some did before.

“We’re working with counterpart agencies to make the border disappear and let the scamsters know there’s no place to hide,” Rosen says.

The proliferation of calls coming from outside our borders “slows us down to a degree, but doesn’t stop us.”

The CRTC and the Australian communications regulator have organized an international do-not-call network with Britain, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Korea, Mexico, Spain, New Zealand and the United States.

Will India join the international list?

“We’re working on that,” Rosen says. “Some countries are less attuned to the issues.”

About 10 per cent of CRTC complaints are about organizations that are exempt from the telemarketing rules. They include:

 • Canadian registered charities

 • Political parties and candidates in federal, provincial and municipal elections

 • General circulation newspapers calling to sell subscriptions

 • Calls to a consumer who has an existing business relationship with an organization (having bought a product in the last 18 months or asked a telemarketer about a product in the last six months)

 • Calls to a consumer who has given express consent to be called

 • Calls to business consumers

Exempt organizations are required to maintain their own do-not-call lists and update them regularly.

Market research and polling firms can call, despite your objections, since they don’t have to maintain internal do-not-call lists. But if they end calls with a sales pitch, they can be caught under the rules.

There’s one caveat about complaining to the CRTC about unwanted calls: You need to get the company’s name and number. Otherwise, a complaint can’t be investigated.

So, always ask for the information before the pitch begins. And if you can’t get it, that’s an abuse of the rules.

To register for the national do-not-call list or complain about a telemarketer, call 1-866-580-3625, or go online.

Ellen Roseman writes about personal finance and consumer issues. You can reach her at eroseman@thestar.ca.