That Will Be £10 per minute

Well done, Mr Herman, I doff the old crash hat to you, sir.

But Mr Herman had recorded the phone calls. So, stepping up his consumer assertiveness another gear, he filed a case in the small claims court.

And that seemed to do the trick. The case was settled before it went to court.

AAC, the company which had called Richard on behalf of PPI Claimline, paid him £195 for his time and electricity, as well as his £25 court costs.

That’s the way to deal with these shysters. Although Mr Herman, like myself, had never opted in to receive such calls, the bastards tried to claim that he had:

They say they only contact people who have opted in to receiving marketing calls, and they say Mr Herman has done so via a website he visited, where you tick or untick a box to agree to be contacted by other companies. Mr Herman says he hasn’t.

Indeed. Neither have I. I always make sure that I either check or uncheck the box so that I have most certainly not given my consent, no matter what little verbal tricks the buggers use to try and make me opt-in by mistake. Be assured, I have most certainly not opted in –  and, being self employed, I have never taken out PPI nor do I have an accident that requires a claim. If I needed either service fulfilled, I would do it myself and not use a middleman anyway.

So, despite my not wanting them, not needing them and never having agreed to receive such calls, the bastards still do it –  although less frequently these days. Although I admire Mr Herman, my usual approach is generally either not to answer, to hang up immediately or be a bit of a smartarse.