Tags: Scams
Junk Mail from Satellite Direct UK
November 29th, 2006, by Rich.
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It’s been a long time since I’ve seen complete mindless determination in the face of utterly overwhelming odds, but Satellite Direct have shown a lack of comprehension that is quite staggering in their recent marketing campaign. Today, they have raised the bar of ineptitude.
The Odds against Satellite Direct
The odds stacked up against Satellite Direct are not just high, they’re positively gargantuanly mind-bogglingly insurmountable; but this plucky little company won’t give up.
Satellite Direct want to sell us a warranty for our Sky satellite television receiver and they don’t give a stuff that we don’t own one.
It matters not a jot to them that we’ve never had one - why let a trifling little detail like that get in the way of a good marketing opportunity?
Disregarding Things
If you’re disregarding important things like checking that your victims potential customers have a need for your warranty then a few other forgetful moments won’t go amiss either, like forgetting to check if your victims potential customers are registered with the TPS.
We for example are registered with the TPS, so it’s unlawful, for Satellite Direct to call us and even try to sell us anything, but that’s not stopped them calling us twice (1,2) already, and comments are starting to arrive from others who have also been tele-spammed.
Satellite Direct Junk Mail
So if your tele-marking operations were facing repeated TPS complaints, what do you do?
Well I was most impressed today to hear from John Campbell whose 96 year old mum-in-law received a letter from Satellite Direct informing her that she too had an expired warranty on a Sky satellite receiver which has (like ours) never, ever, existed.
So that’s what Satellite Direct do, they switch to junk mail. We’re also registered with the Mailing Preference Service, so it’s also unlawful for Satellite Direct to directly send us junk mail.
It will therefore come as no surprise that we too have received a letter from Satellite Direct UK which opens:
The initial manufacturer’s warranty on your digital satellite (Sky TV) system has now expired and this leaves you open to expensive call out charges and repair costs should anything go wrong!
Profiting from Dishonesty?
If Satellite Direct can repeatedly badger us with this specious nonsense about the expiry of a warranty on a device which has never existed, then we must question how many real Sky customers are buying unnecessary warranties on machines that are still covered perfectly well by the original warranty?
Add todays letter to the call I received earlier this year telling me I’d won a flight to Turkey thanks to Data Partnership Solutions and One4Travel - which work in partnership with Satellite Direct UK and that makes four occasions when they’ve ignored the TPS and MPS and contacted us, then attempted to mislead us.
Countrywide that could scale up to a lot of unsolicited and unlawful telephone calls and junk mails, and a lot of unhappy customers.
Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB.
February 16th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Hi Rich,
Still watching this take unfold from afar.
Any news on the return to court scheduled earlier this week? A cursory glance at the papers didn’t reveal anything, but Googling has never been my strong point.
And belated apologies to the person whose 81 year old mother I inadvertently ‘insulted’. She was obviously not the sort of person I was referring to, rather, those people who jump into agreements without doing the proper research. It is these people that allow these organisations to thrive.
Everyone should be a super-sceptic like me, obviously.
February 16th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
These —-holes have sent me two of their so called Sky Box Letters.But they have sent them under a mistaken surname IE Shenks not Shanks.The only People i have had dealings with that use this mistake are Bid up Price Drop TV Channels so I can only assume that these Channels have passed on my address plus the wrong surname to these tossers at Satellite Direct.
After reading these comments I think all should put this junk mail Directly in the bin. Or I suppose we could all send letters to the address at Imperium House containing cat shit with a small note saying that their firm is shit so try some more.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:58 am
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:28 am
If you recall a few weeks ago i left a rather jibberishy reply stating how you were all sad twats wasting your time writing about something so booooring as warranty companies. Well i still work for them, and i really am hoping that one day i come across one of you moany old gits just to see who the ‘morally bankrupt’ really are.
Yes, without a doubt, it must be annoying for you having a phone call or a letter that you could so very easily discard, but next time you feel like abusing the call agent you are speaking to, take a second and think what their circumstances may be. I for one, am working there until August, which is when i will be off to join the Army, to serve this great nation of whiney stuck up snobs.
On either side of me i have to teenage mothers, who instead of living off benefits, have made the conscious decision to take responsibility for their childs’ lives. then we have an lovely old guy who was in the MET police for years and years. while serving, he was seriously injured and unable to work for a long time.
Luckily, there are jobs where you can sit on your arse all day, which he soon discovered. we also have a young man who fell through a skylite a few years ago, and, as nice a guy as he is, he will never be 100% again. all these people could easily sit at home spongeing off the government claiming YOUR tax money but instead theyve got jobs and theyre CONTRIBUTING.
Now i dont know which you would prefer us all to be doing, but if it was me i would happily have a phone call or unwanted letter rather than an extra 1000+ people basically pocketing my money in benefits. so next time you feel like ranting about how unfair it is that we so very severely inconvenienced you, or mispelt your name, or disturbed you from your book, whatever it is, just try and look at the bigger picture.
all these people you are calling tossers, the ones you actually speak to, are on the front line and have to take all the flack for the people higher up. the ones who are really to blame. suppose its good preparation for the army really.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:35 am
Welcome back anon.
How could we possibly forget you? Remember, I stated in my previous reply, which I seem to need to reiterate, the article and comments are not about you, keep that in mind.
Why do you want to meet people you’ve described as sad twats, moany old gits and whiney stuck up snobs?
I take it you’re speaking unofficially when stating that communication from Satellite Direct is “without a doubt, annoying“.
This is in addition to all the calls to TPS registered customers which are unlawful.
This is also in addition to the calls which sought to intimate an existing contract with the call recipient when no such relationship existed.
Well said. There’s never any excuse for being rude.
However, you’re calling people in the middle of their favourite TV programme, in the middle of dinner, in the middle of having their health worker come round and take their blood pressure, in the middle of an argument, in the middle of making up after an argument and in fact, in the middle of absolutely anything except waiting patiently for your call.
If you’re going to be butting in to people’s private life unannounced, uninvited, and especially in cases where people are TPS registered do you really expect people to be pleased to hear from you?
What you’re actually going to defend is the nation’s right to govern itself and make it’s own laws.
You’re willing to risk your life to defend a nation, but reticent in putting your name to your opinions when you criticize those “whiney old gits” who are highlighting where your employer is ignoring the laws that you’re willing to die for.
You’re belittling your apparent noble intent. Personally I think it’s great that you’re commenting here, because it shows that you may, in fact, give a damn, but so far you’re failing see that criticism of Satellite Direct is not personal criticism.
People with limited life experience and limited opportunity to have gained qualifications (so far) who may not realize that their company is acting unlawfully. The kind of people who are not in a position to tell an employer when they’re behaving badly because they actually need their job.
How does he feel about the recent legal case?
Good for them, just as this is not about you, it’s not about them.
It’s the thin edge of the wedge. First it’s one call, then 2, then 5, then more, lots more.
The telephone is not a marketing channel for misuse by companies like Satellite Direct; it’s a private and personal communications device. Readers will be acutely aware that you understand and protect your own privacy, “anon”, they’re just doing the same.
I’ve covered the letter issue previously.
If, as Mr Shanks did above, the accusation is leveled that Satellite Direct are “tossers”, then you must consider whether it is directed at you personally, or at the management and directors who profit from the misrepresentation described in the recent legal case.
You must decide if you feel responsible or if it is all the fault of “people higher up [who] are really to blame” because they told you to do it.
Quite the opposite. It is your duty to disobey an unlawful order and seek to clarify any order which you interpret as requiring you to act unlawfully.
You can plead ignorance when holding a telephone, but not when representing the nation and holding a gun.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Presumably, people in these call centres get payment linked to the successful outcome of their contacts?
If so, it would appear to be more beneficial to them to ensure that the laws are being complied with.
They might perhaps, try only contacting people who have a need of the service offered (eg who actually have a satellite TV)?…. Otherwise the call will result in a nil return, not to mention a possible hostile response
In addition it would clearly be sensible not to contact those folks who have deliberately made specific attempts to avoid being disturbed,ie, those who have registered with the TPS, since these calls too will be extremely unwelcome.
Perhaps there is a “Suggestions Box” where Mr/Ms Anon works? Maybe these points could be put forward via that route? The result might mean a happier workforce optimising its success rate, better production for the ‘Company’ and a more peaceful time for all the TPS and non-satellite owning people in the UK?
February 23rd, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Despite being MPS registered, a small amount of junk still gets through. Everyone should do what i do, rip the mail into small pieces and post it back to the company in the pre-paid envelope that usually accompanies the junk mail. I appreciate this will only cost the company a small amount for second class postage, but if everyone done it the costs would mount.
Sat Direct are obviously morally bankrupt in their marketing methods, and they are unlikely to change their habits. Hit them where you can, in their profit margin.
February 24th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Has anybody used this company and what sort of service do they give? Perhaps its better than Sky t..
March 1st, 2007 at 9:34 am
We received a letter, might we say of poor quality, today March 1st, 2007. We do not have ANY Sky equipment. Letter will be retained and passed onto Trading Standards. I suppose that they are supporting the Royal Mail.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
My elderly father-in-law has ai ntem on his recent visa statement from Satellite Direct which he knows nothing about. Based on some of the comments on this blog I suspect he has been conned into calling them back and been charged a fortune for the call. Has anyone any experience of this and how to deal with it?