Since the start of the year, the government has undertaken a series of actions to sanction and limit abusive telephone canvassing in France. However, the new measures put in place between January and March seem to encounter application difficulties on the part of call centers, whose economic model is in danger.
Social media continues to be flooded with complaints from disgruntled consumers. A study published by the UFC Que Choisir association reveals that the French receive on average four unsolicited phone calls per week. If you are one of the millions of people who are harassed on a regular basis, there are techniques to get rid of it. Simply hanging up on you is not helpful: you will automatically be called back later.
📱 Consumers: cold calling is now only permitted from Monday to Friday, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and never more than 4 times a month by the same professional
To find out more, read our practical sheet
👉 https://t.co/RI4BJSrVKg pic.twitter.com/iNcYcQmm44— DGCCRF (@dgccrf) March 1, 2023
Direct sellers exposed to great risks
The new rules are, however, clear and strict: direct sellers are required not to contact people registered on the Bloctel list, under penalty of a fine of 75,000 euros for individuals and 375,000 euros for legal entities.
The same sanction applies to those who call prospects outside of authorized time slots, explain our colleagues from Presse-citron: teleconsultants are authorized to contact customers only between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., or between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Week. Unsolicited calls on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are prohibited. If you are called this weekend, it is because the call center is not following the rules: it could therefore be sanctioned.
The numbers are now known
The new guidelines require direct sellers to display their distinctive telephone number during their calls. They obviously do not have the right to use a hidden number to contact you. In addition, they are no longer authorized to use telephone numbers that begin with 06 or 07 which are reserved for interpersonal communications (in the private sector). Any violation of this rule may also result in sanctions.
For all call centers, a certain number of telephone codes have been defined and must be used in their practices. If you no longer wish to answer unsolicited calls, we advise you to filter the numbers that start with the codes listed below: this is much more effective than simply hanging up on you. The codes vary depending on whether you are in mainland France, Guadeloupe, Guyana or Reunion.
Telephone codes used during cold calling:
- Metropolitan France: 0162, 0163, 0270, 0271, 0377, 0378, 0424, 0425, 0568, 0569, 0948, 0949
- Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy: 09475
- Guyana: 09476
- Martinique: 09477
- Reunion and Mayotte: 09478 and 09479
Officially, each operator does not have the right to contact you more than 4 times a month. However, it is sometimes difficult to know exactly which company is behind the call that is being made. One thing is certain, you must not let yourself be faced with aggressive telephone advisors: you must be firm and above all not hang up on your face. Telephone advisors are under pressure at work and will not hesitate to annoy you if your behavior does not suit them. We had also written an article on all the alternatives rather than hanging up on him.
An even more radical method to no longer be disturbed is to register on the Bloctel red list. Telephone advisors are required to first check that your number is not there before calling you. You can carry out this process directly online by clicking here, this is a service offered by the government. Unfortunately, even this service is not always respected by telephone advisors. Otherwise, if you do not want to impose this maximum constraint, you can simply use effective filtering applications such as the Orange Telephone application. The community adds spam numbers to this app, and these will then be blocked for those who downloaded it.
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