Doorstep sellers condemned for 'devious tactics'

Door-to-door sales staff are condemned for their devious tactics in a report published today.

It says callers “lie” to get their foot in the door, use high pressure tactics to “intimidate” people, and sometimes refuse to leave after outstaying their welcome.

The British National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) is so concerned it has lodged a “super-complaint” with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The OFT said it would examine the complaint within 90 days, with a view to possibly launching its own investigation.

Around 7.7 million people a year in Britain are estimated to have problems with door-to-door salesmen and telephone selling, according to a report from the OFT published in 2000.

The selling methods used attracted the second largest number of complaints after junk mail, the study found.

The NACAB report examined 1,500 complaints about doorstep selling from more than 350 CABs in England and Northern Ireland.

A third of all complaints were about tactics used by gas and electricity sales agents.

The dubious methods used were highlighted recently with claims agents working for the energy arm of the Virgin group completed transfer forms using names and addresses obtained from the electoral register.

London Electricity Group, which owns 75% of Virgin Energy, had the highest number of direct selling complaints in figures released today by gas and electricity watchdog energywatch.

The company had 4.62 complaints per 1,000 transfers compared with an industry average of 1.92.

The next biggest areas of complaint in the NACAB report was double-glazing and disability aids, then credit deals.

A smaller, but growing problem, is callers offering legal services, such as personal injury claims, on a “no win no fee” basis, the Door to Door report says.

David Harker, chief executive of the NACAB, said: “Our report presents disturbing evidence that doorstep selling is an area in which unfair trading practices thrive, and consumer protection is inadequate.

“For far too many of our clients, doorstep purchases have proved an expensive mistake from which they have been unable to extricate themselves.”

Ann Robinson, who chairs energywatch, said: “We welcome the publication of NACAB’s findings into the problem of direct selling across a number of markets.

“Offensive sales tactics have been used in the energy market for years and it is high time that decisive action is taken to put an end to it.”

The Direct Selling Association, which represents door-to-door sales firms, said most of the complaints would be down to a “small rogue element.”

“The complaints about direct sales practice featured in NACAB’s report would not have arisen had the salespeople concerned been with DSA member companies that are required to adopt the DSA code.

“Apart from demanding fair sales practices, this code provides customers with a period of 14 days in which they can cancel any order – whether it be solicited or unsolicited.”