The National Nuisance: Cold Calling
"Have you been in a car accident which wasn't your fault?" How many times have you received a call from a number that you don't recognize nor can you call back and have asked you the above question? I know I have many times and once I even said yes to see what happens.
I was then transferred to another person who I could tell English was not his first language and began asking me question over question on how the accident occurred and when it all happened. I asked the person who this was and from which company he was calling from but he simply answered in a way I could not quite understand what he was saying and went back to the questions.
I asked his name and company again and he began to stress his question on whether I was actually in an accident to which I finally replied no. Quite instantly he shut the phone on me.
BBC News state in their article 'Nuisance calls result in a complaint every five minutes' that "The Information Commissioner's Office said about 370 people a day complain about cold calling, with more than half of those calls now automated."
However, there are steps we can take to ensure that these types of companies do not go unpunished and how we can stop this national nuisance.
Can Claims Management Companies Cold Call Anyway?
Claims management companies must register themselves with the ministry of justice and therefore follow a few strict rules that also include 'No unsolicited cold calling, approaching members of the public on the street or knocking at doors. This is known as an “unsolicited” approach and is illegal.' Kevin Bolton gives an excellent understanding on this topic on his blog at Accident Claim Expert.
Therefore, if you do get these types of calls you can take certain steps to ensure that these types of companies do not harass you or anyone else again.
How Can I Stop Getting These Calls?
In a recent article called 'I’m being plagued by nuisance calls about an alleged accident' by The Guardian, it explains how you can register your number with Telephone Preference Service (TPS), whom also have an app to allow you to register and report dodgy numbers, and they will ensure all cold calls are blocked from even getting to you.
How Do I Complain Against These Fake Accident Claims Management Companies?
This is how I would go about it, next time someone over the phone asks if you have been in a car accident. Say Yes. Then while answering the guys questions try to get as much detail out of him as possible about what the company name is, whether there was a website you can visit to learn more about the credibility of the company, where they are located so you could visit them directly and talk about the issue, what the persons name is. The more information you gather the better!
Once you feel you have all the necessary information which is authentic that can help the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) then go on their website at https://ico.org.uk/ and make a complaint. Be rest assured that they will do everything in their power to ensure that the company will never harass others again.
The Other National Nuisance: Fake Claims & Lies
On the other side of the spectrum there are claims management companies out there that orchestrate fake car accidents so that they can cash in on it. Furthermore, they can also prolong your claim to ensure you keep their vehicle as long as possible so they can get more out of it.
How this affects us directly is simply because the more car insurance claims are made and where insurance companies are left to spend a lot because of this, that can end up increasing our car insurance premiums by a huge margin.
However, I would still urge you to read our article, 'Why Choose An Accident Claims Management Company Over Your Car Insurance Company In A Non Fault Car Accident' to learn more on why it is still the best choice to go to companies like us than insurance companies. To summarize, it's because we offer to take care of your whole claim while you can relax whereas going to an insurance company means a lot of paperwork and a lot of unnecessary headache.
Why is Crystal Claims Management Different To Other Accident Claims Management Companies?
The fact that we have written and shared a whole special report on this matter to inform you of the issues should show that we do not practice any of these unethical and illegal points above.
Crystal Claims Management works solely on keeping our clients happy and to do that we focus on honesty and building trust. You can check out our reviews on Trust Pilot to see what others have said about us. Our business comes from our clients referring us to their friends and families therefore we do not do anything to destroy that trust ever.
Therefore, we do not go down to the level of cold calling and fake claims simply because we don't need to.
The solution to avoiding bad accident claims management companies is to come to us. Call us and we will tell you how.
