BrightHouse's Hidden Cold Calling Telesales Practices

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BrightHouse's Misleading Job Advert

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uploaded by Fletch

How many of you are at home having a family meal, a bath, asleep or watching television and are dying for a sales person to call you uninvited and offer you a computer package on weekly payment terms from BrightHouse? If you wanted a computer package on weekly payment terms from BrightHouse wouldn't you go into one of their many high street retail stores? Maybe I'm wrong and there's thousands of people hanging on tenterhooks by their telephones at home just waiting for the call from a BrightHouse employee who will offer them this computer package on weekly payment terms.

I'm one of many who know telesales is wrong. It's disgusting, immoral, vile and abhorrent. Borderline illegal.

Imagine you are looking for a good job, absolutely not telesales... You wouldn't do telesales if you were homeless and starving, prostitution would be more honest! You see this job advertisement in a local paper -  BrightHouse Sales Advisor "Your proven track record in exceeding sales targets will enable you to shine and succeed. You will have the experience of dealing with many different customer types and enjoy using your customer service skills to build long term relationships. Experience with household and electrical products as well as furniture would be beneficial but not essential. What's more important to us is your bubbly, outgoing personality which will encourage our customers to enjoy their weekly visit to make their payments"

Sounds like a respectable retail sales job, but, no, sorry, suddenly cold calling telesales becomes a massive part of your job.

The names and phone numbers culled from existing customers, already signed up for over priced goods at an APR of 29.9%, and the references these customers used on their account applications they target these "sub-prime" potential customers and try to entice them into debt. They seem to be trying to get the poor and struggling into outrageous debt. They are pushing no deposit (apart from the first, upfront, up to twelve day ahead payment), no credit check (apart from your own friends and family references that you are required to provide), APR of 29.9% (that's right an incredible 29.9%) hire purchase schemes to people who clearly although they can't afford these schemes will be tempted by them.

So from a smartly dressed, friendly, welcoming sales person approaching potential customers who have walked into the high street store and therefore willing and knowingly, who doesn't expect to be approached by a sales person if they walk into a showroom, walked into your so-called "zone of terror" you've now become an intrusive, unwelcome, annoying telephone pest bothering people in their own homes during their most intimate moments.

Nothing like the ad then...