I work in a cold calling call center. They are a scam. Should I quit? JSA problem.?

[dacy17]

Hey!

I was unable to find work for sometime and becoming desperate for employment I finally decided to apply to one of these sales call centres.

I got the job and started roughly 5 months ago. They deal in what they call ''unenforceable credit agreements''. This is where we cold call customers using details purchased by the company I work for from another company.

At first, not exactly being well up on the legality of things I actually thought that what the company was doing was legitimate and we were actually helping people with their debt. However, over the months I have come to discover that it is not that way whatsoever. From talking to others who have worked there for quite some time, reading internet reviews and even seeing them appear on TV scam shows I have realised that what I am doing by calling customers is helping to get them into an even larger amount of debt than they were before I called. The company is not following rules and regulations and customers are mislead.

What happens is that I will call a customer explaining that because of government amendments to the consumer credit act of 1974 their credit card is legally unenforceable and that they will not have to repay the remaining balance. We charge the customer upfront an upfront fee (495+10% of their balance + VAT) which is charged to their credit card immediately, then we do all the work on their behalf and in 6-8 weeks they will get their credit card balance written off or as we are told to say ''deemed unenforceable'' and our charge that's been placed on to their credit cards will die along with the rest of their balance. We are also told to say that it wont affect their credit rating in any way (which it does).

What I have learned is that once the customer has paid us, they are then sent our paperwork which they sign and return to us but what the customer wont know is that they are then asked to pay another £150 to a barrister to go ahead with the claim. This is not at all mentioned in my original call. And by the time this has happened the ''14 day cooling off period'' for refunds has already expired.

So slowly I have learned that things aren't quite what they seem where I work and that I am kind of in a sticky situation. One where I am going in to work and leaving horrified by the fact that I may have put somebody vulnerable into a further amount of debt (even though I am trying my best to sound completely uninterested on the phone so the customer wont care) and feeling terrible about it. Even depressed. But it is a rough time right now for finding work so my problem is is that I want to quit so badly but of course if I do quit I will not be entitled to Jobseekers allowance as I would have left of my own accord. I don't know how much longer I can bear it there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be lazy and not work and just live off benefits but if I was to leave the job I would need that help whilst finding another job.

I am looking right now whilst working there also but so far no luck.

Can anybody advise me on how to proceed or what to do. The event that has driven me to seek guidance immediately is that I spoke to a couple who were getting married shortly on the phone today and as disinterested I tried to sound to them on the phone they went along with the whole thing with my senior advisor after I had reluctantly qualified them and she managed to convince them to pay the money up front totalling £3000. Not a great start for them in married life. I can't do this any more.

Thank you for any help.

[felabeorbt]

Report them to trading standards, that's the right thing to do. Look for another job in the meantime.

[berwin]

Agreed with Pogo. Report them. Don't know what it's like where you live, but in the US you can report poor or illegal working conditions to the unemployment office as a reason you want to quit, and they can decide whether or not to give you unemployment benefit checks based on your situation. So if I were you, I'd report them to the jobseekers/unemployment office as well as the better business bureau or an industry regulation organization, whatever makes sense to you.

While you are doing this, you should look for a new job.

[webb]

Stick at it until you find somewhere else. In the meantime compile a report (as you have written here) and send it to Trading Standards in your area. Most probably they are acting just inside the law.
UK

[nickson]

I've worked in the financial and lending sectors and have dealt with many people in debt who have been victim of debt collectors, debt management companies, shady lenders - you name it, I've seen it happen in this business. Straight away there are elements of what you describe which strike me as, at best, immoral, at worst, illegal. If they are wilfully misleading people into thinking this is the right way to deal with a debt they are committing fraud (obtaining money by deception). This practice is often used on 'old' debts - ones which lenders have been chasing for a long time with no success so they give up on them and take the small amounts such companies pay to buy the debt. As the customer, there are many options which can be used to deal with this, most do not involve paying out money. And certainly not the hidden fees you mention.

Keep records of what is going on, and gather evidence if possible. The 3 main bodies they will be answerable to are OFCOM (telecommunications), the Office of Fair Trading and The Financial Ombudsman. In fact look at this from the OFT - http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2010/105-10 They probably have in place certain procedures which they will enact should anyone report them or complain. It's only when someone on the inside (like yourself) exposes these things that it gets dealt with. All the time they are able to cover their tracks they will get away with it. There was a very interesting episode of Panorama on BBC1 last week about call centres - they were all breaking the law but had scripts prepared to read out when questioned on their activities. Until they showed them undercover filming they had done!

As for your position? I totally understand how you must feel, jobs are thin on the ground right now and no sane person chooses benefits. You're trapped! Well start looking around right now, send out your CV and covering letters even to companies who aren't advertising. Speak to your local Job Centre regarding your benefits entitlement - you may just lose out for a few weeks, it depends on how they judge your reasons for leaving. Maybe you should contact the BBC, ask them if they want to do a follow up on the Panorama report? Tell them you know someone who's willing to become an undercover reporter...

Keep your chin up, only act on this if you're able to - as much as companies like this need to be exposed it's not worth causing yourself more stress. And it's certainly not worth continuing in an environment which makes you feel so low.

[shadrach]

Unfortunately you will probably fid this company is working within the law. If you aren't sure you can report them to Trading Standards 08454 04 05 06. If you are found out by the company (which is unlikely) they can just fire you (yay! as you can claim JSA) if they are breaking trading regulations they will be found out and probably closed down. It can take a while but this is probably your best bet.

If you quit without taking these appropriate steps you will be sanctioned for 6 months under JSA.

The final option is to perform so badly, you get fired. Just look up what is considered gross misconduct in your contract and avoid that.