Hotline gets rid of cold-call pests

COLD-CALL telephone problems could be ended with a new service which promises to stop the majority of firms disturbing people who are not interested in their products.

The free Pacitel service means you can go online to list the numbers on which you do not want to receive cold marketing calls. Both your mobile and landline numbers can be listed.

Launched after a delay of a few months due to technical problems it will not, however, stop calls until December 1 although people can subscribe and list numbers to be barred. Five federations representing 80% of telemarketing firms are said to have agreed to abide by the arrangement put in place in partnership with the commerce ministry.

This means Pacitel will “limit the vast majority” of calls, said its president Natalie Jouen Arzur. Companies that you normally have dealings with – your mobile phone company, bank, energy suppliers, etc – will still be able to contact you to offer changes in service.

Consumer minister Frédéric Lefebvre said: “The federations understand that coldcalling can be counterproductive; it’s pointless to bother consumers who don’t want to be disturbed.”

Pacitel is different from the existing schemes as these stop telecoms firms from selling or otherwise publicising customers’ details while Pacitel is aimed at giving power to consumers. Telecoms firms have liste orange or liste rouge services to restrict their activities.

An “orange list” means the firm will not to sell customers’ numbers to telemarketing firms, while the “red list” bars them from putting numbers in (paper or online) directories or communicating them via directory inquiries.

However, these lists do not directly stop telemarketing firms themselves from using numbers they have acquired by other means.