Posted on 04/21/2006 7:54:54 PM PDT by franksolich
A flood of complaints over aggressive and questionable tactics used by telephone solicitors has prompted the government to consider banning such sales in Norway.
Government minister Karita Bekkemellem says she's shocked over the methods used by some salespeople on the phone, also known as telemarketers. Never before has Norway's consumer advocate handled more complaints.
"We have to do something," Bekkemellem told newspaper Aftenposten on Friday.
Bekkemellem also threatened to ban telephone sales several years ago, when she was a minister in a previous government. She admits that industry pressure and the fact that telemarketing creates many jobs ended up quashing her plan to "do something" then.
But now it seems telephone sellers are more aggressive than ever. Aftenposten reported earlier this week how some firms prey on elderly Norwegians, many of them hard of hearing, and virtually force them into agreeing to buy products they neither want nor need.
When the bill comes, the consumers have been threatened with collection agencies and legal action if they refuse to pay. One Swedish firm even has gone so far as to claim that they have tapes of the conversation between the seller and the consumer, and can prove the consumer agreed to buy the product in question.
"I'm shocked, and it's especially bad when elderly people with poor hearing are tricked into accepting a negative sale," Bekkemellem said.
With more than 7,000 complaints filed last year along, Bekkemellem says the new left-center government is considering banning telephone sales entirely. Consumers remain able to protect themself against telephone solicitation by registering their phones with a state agency in Bronnøysund, but consumers must take the initiative themselves to free their phone line from solicitation.
The government is considering reversing the process, meaning all phones will be reserved against solicitation, while those consumers who actually want to be called up can register themselves as open to solicitation.
I get solicitation telephone calls from the Democratic party; since I'm deaf, the conversations cannot possibly do much good, but anyway, I just say, yeah, sure, I'll vote Democratic.....
Pining for the fjords, are you?
Well, actually, I changed some things in my "Photobucket" account, and was "experimenting," because I hope next week (next week, not this week) to resume the infamous (and oftentimes mistake-laden) "Saturday Night Tours of Norway," with a whole lot of photographs.
But if yoy're deaf, how can you tell they are democrats? Is it the smell that gives them away? Reminds me of the old "Not the nine o'clock news" BBC-scetch with Rowan Atkinson as a deaf person who use an invention with a flashing light attached to his head so he can see when somebody calls him...but off course; since he is deaf he still can't hear who's on the the other line...
Personally I hate telephone-sellers - I always use my foulest language when they call me. My favourite answer is: "Why don't you get a REAL job instead?"
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