Do Not Call registry opens in Australia
Posted by MattE on 03 May 2007 at 01:30 pm | Tagged as: Communications, consumer engagement
At last Australia’s Do Not Call registry has opened in Australia.
Hopefully this will severely curtail annoying telemarketers who call at inopportune times (for me any time).
Sadly there are some exemptions:
Politicians - Why? They have traditional media channels to communicate their vews
Religious organisations - While I have not had anyone trying to convert me over the phone, there would be a pretty short response.
Charities - My GREATEST source of unwanted calls - at some times of the year up to 5 in one day.
In my view, there should be NO exemptions and the register should have check boxes to open up to anyone you WANT to call you. This would not be hard to do.
To register, visit www.donotcall.gov.au The legislation comes into effect at the end of May.
Got views on this? Let us know via comments
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When you complete you registration, you get this screen - note the duration element before renewal.
Registration complete
You have successfully registered 1 telephone number(s) on the Do Not Call Register.
Your registration expires in three years on 3-May-2010.
How long will it take before I stop receiving phone calls?
It may take up to 30 days for telemarketing agencies to recognise your registration and stop calling your number.
What can I do if I still receive calls after 30 days?
It you are still receiving telemarketing calls after 30 days, you can lodge a complaint.
Who can still call me?
Registering your number on the Do Not Call Register will not stop all calls to your number. There are some limited exemptions which enable certain public interest organisations to make telemarketing calls. Exempt organisations include charities, religious organisations, educational institutions and political parties.
Companies with which you have an on-going business relationship will still be allowed to call your number even if it is on the Register. For example, it may be reasonable to expect to receive a telemarketing call from a financial institution, utility, service provider or telephone carrier if you have an existing account. You may request the business to stop calling you at any time.
Two weeks before this date, a reminder email will be sent advising that your registration is about to expire and that you need to re-register your number(s). However, you don’t need to wait until your registration expires to re-register your number for another three years.
I agree that there should be NO exemptions to this register. As usual government bows to pressures from the very
people who are causing the problem!
A good start but DON’T STOP HERE.
Have a similar register to stop unsolicited JUNK MAIL in our letterboxes. That would really help save the environment.
Why spend $33 million taxpayer dollars to set up a Do Not Call Register? So much simpler to force telemarkets to set up and finance their own Call Register. Only numbers registered with them can be legally accosted by them on the telephone line, and hassled at all times of the day and night. When we set up our phone lines, our implied agreement with the telephone company is that it is for us to keep in touch with friends and people we know, to whom we have given our number - not have our number published and distributed far & wide for people with strange Indian and Pakistani accents to call us at unearthly hours.
Good points Jim. So you suggest something like happens with some free SMS services that are available - you get to send X number of free SMS and in return you are then obliged to receive x number of marketing text messages.
Maybe this could be an interesting business model, free line rental and x value of phone calls in return for agreeing to listen to some marketing messages….?
I feel very strongly that there should be no exceptions whatsoever. I do not donate to charities who
telephone market and I am extremely anti any political calls or surveys.
Lets hope this really works would be nice to have a family dinner in peace..pass the web address around i say
I notice you have a link to a peddler of hardcore pornography at Shop Online Australia. Rather than pointing the finger at telemarketers, deviants like you should be publicly shamed into cleaning up your act. Your site will be added to a new blog set up point the finger at those who support merchants of smut.
Mark, Yes we provide a full range of products at Shop Online Australia to cater for the needs of the diverse Australian market. On the 40 or so pages at Shop Online Australia, we have products related to sports, hobbies, eating, mother and baby items as well as ONE page catering for those who’s interests lay in consenting adult pursuits.
We are not discriminatory and people are able to choose if they wish to click through to that page (YOU obviously did) where there are NO pornographic images - only text links and a couple of simple, graphical ads. Therefore you needed to then click through to one of the sites listed to be exposed to that merchant’s site (obviously you must have been interested enough to do this).
What we offer is choice - through clearly labeled categories. If someone feels they may take offence, they have the choice not only to not visit the ONE page we have, but then also not to click through to the merchant’s site.
I trust you are also writing from your hotmail address to Google, MSN etc who list such sites in search results, plus all the shopping mall sites like ours plus bricks and mortar building and shopping precinct owners that have an adult store who offer people a choice.
Thanks for taking the time to help promote our adults products page.
In Response to Doug Smith — May 3, 2007: “A good start but DON’T STOP HERE. Have a similar register to stop unsolicited JUNK MAIL”
- Totally agree!!
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In Response to Jim Ngoh — May 5, 2007: “Why spend $33 million taxpayer dollars to set up a Do Not Call Register? So much simpler to force telemarkets to set up and finance their own Call Register.”
- I agree the telemarketers should fund the cost of setting up and running the register. However, Dont let them set it up. People would have greater confidence in the register knowing its not run by telemarketers. The good news is, the cost will be recovered through fees charged to telemarketer for access to the register. Which in turn is a must if they wish to be safe against penalties ranging from $1,100 to $1.1 Million.
To quote the ACMA site “The government announced funding of $33.1 million over four years for developing and implementing the Do Not Call Register, of which approximately $15.9 million was anticipated to be recovered through fees to access the register. Full cost recovery of the register’s operating costs is intended to occur from February 2011.”
We do telemarketing, and I think this is a great approach. Those who are not interested no longer get ‘annoyed’ by our unwanted calls, companies hiring our services save on financing unwanted calls, and our telemarketing operators dont get abused. Its a triple win situation for residents, companies and telemarketers! Ultimately the costs are borne by the companies hiring our services as fees and internal costs for us to regularly check the register are passed on.
PS: MattE - Great response to the flame, like telemarketing calls, people can choose not to be exposed!
Jason
Hi Jason
Yes the reduction in call numbers to those who will be interested in hearing about products/services does represent a good cost saving and reduces stress on staff.
One service we offer is SMS marketing and when a client expresses concern when people opt-out, I say, just think of the money you save not sending to those who’s situation has changed and are no longer interested!”
Hello….
I registered my number on the Do Not Call list the day it started.
yesterday and today I received two calls each day from (India) offering me mobile phones and holiday coupons. This in addition to 3 phonecalls from Australian charities doing their darndest to extract some money from me. All I need now is for some blasted politician to try and garner my vote. Where will it all end!