SSE has joined a campaign in Scotland launched by Which? to end nuisance calls. After finding nine in 10 Scots (91%) have received nuisance calls on their landline, Which? is calling for the Scottish Government and businesses to do more to cut off this every day menace.
SSE is the first major company to sign up to all campaign calls, putting a stop to cold calling in 2013 and recently announcing a senior director who will be held responsible if the company is found to be making nuisance calls.
According to research from Which? some nine in 10 Scots (91%) have had a nuisance call to their phone in the last month. They also found three quarters (75%) said receiving cold calls had actually discouraged them from picking up their home phone when it rings.
People also said they received an average of 10 cold calls on their landline last month, with the most common calls being about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) (66%) and silent calls (55%).
Gareth Wood, Customer Service and Sales Operations Director for SSE, said: “We were one of the first energy firms to end the practise of cold calling households for energy sales in 2013. We recognised that unsolicited telephone calls to potential customers at home were unwelcome and many people found them intrusive. It’s time this practice is ended for good and we support the Which? campaign to call time on nuisance calls.”
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: “With the vast majority of Scots getting nuisance calls, it is clear efforts must be re-doubled to tackle this modern menace. People are fed up with being bombarded with unwanted calls and texts that waste their time and invade their privacy.
“The Scottish Government should lead the way by setting out how it plans to fight back against nuisance callers. Scottish businesses should make senior executives responsible if their firm makes unlawful calls.”
Across the UK more than 300,000 people have signed up to Which?’s ‘Calling Time on Nuisance calls’ campaign and people can report nuisance calls to regulators for free on the Which? website at www.which.co.uk/reportcalls