Friday, June 30, 2006

My privacy complaint - Xentel's response

Dear Ms. Mealey:

Thank-you for contacting us about your concerns with Xentel's do not call system. Xentel has operated its own do not call registry since 1988, recognizing that some Canadians do not want us to call them for our non-profit clients. [With harassment three times a day, who can blame them?] What you have described is of great concern to us and we are investigating the specifics to determine what has to change to ensure no one else has a similar experience.

I am assured by our do not call system manager that we have placed your telephone number on Xentel's do not call list. It will be purged from all calling lists Xentel creates for the next three years.
[I guess it doesn't matter since I'm moving, but what if I wasn't? After three years, I would get called again?]

Again, thank-you for contacting us about this.

Len Wolstenholme
for Xentel DM Incorporated

6 comments:

Me said...

I've been living here for almost 2 years now and I still get phone calls asking for a Mr Kumar. I wish I had a DO NOT BLOODY CALL ME registry.

Anonymous said...

I work for Xentel...it is the biggest fraud in the world. I can't believe it's not shut down yet. All we do is scam people into believing they are giving money to a needy charity when in reality we keep 90% of the money given. And you're right the calls are rediculous and they don't stop...I get them myself, sometimes over 3 times a day. To everyone who gets a call from us make sure you ask to speak to a manager and tell them to TAKE YOUR NAME OFF THE LIST! If you just say you're not interested you will recieve numerous other calls.

Anonymous said...

I currently work for xentel and it's time someone set the record straight. In no way shape or form are we scamming anyone. We are paid, yes I know it's horrible. Does a teacher get paid for teaching? A cop for eating donuts? Do you get paid when you go to work? YES! People may complain about their experiences but your missing the big picture. We represent very respectable programs that really make a positive influence on our communities. Most peoples main concern is how much of my money is going to this program? That is a reasonable question, however when you buy bread from your local grocer how much of the money do they get? How much of it goes to rude teenager who tried to keep your change? We understand that some people would like to help and just want their money in the right hands.we also understand that almost all of these people lead too busy a life to really do that. So why don't people ask where the money goes when they buy bread? It doesn't matter they need the bread. These programs need this money and those that really want them to have it don't care.

Nadine said...

To Anonymous#2 defending Xentel:

While I understand your position, I'd like to clarify that I'm not against the concept of soliciting people for charitable donations. I myself donate nearly $2000 a year to select charities to which I feel connected.

Nor do I believe that Xentel runs a 'scam' operation: I'm not disputing that the money they collect goes to the programs for which they collect them. Nor do I personally hate the people who called me - I've worked in call centers too, and have way too much respect for the kind of crap that phone monkeys have to endure to be personally rude to one myself.

If you read my previous posts on this issue, you'd see that my main complaint is with the concept of harassing people multiple times a day, every day, for several weeks, for the same damn thing. If my answer was 'no' the first time, I can understand calling me back at a later time to see if my mind has changed - but not two hours later, or even two days later. Try a year. Or two.

My secondary, but still related complaint, was that despite having requested several times to be put on the company's do-no-call list, I was still receiving calls. This is poor business practice and not a little threatening. It's like a stalker ex-boyfriend saying he'll stop bugging you, but he still calls you constantly.

Unknown said...

I can't believe that an organization which purchases the rights to tap a specific group of people, like the citizen of a certain state or members of specific groups, like VFW, can continue to exist in this economy. If they disclosed the fact that they had purchased the ability to solicit you and all your brother members for what ever amount, and any thing they collect over that figure goes directly into their pocket, I'm sure their results would be adversely affected. I think it's a travesty that someone can actually buy the rights to solicit me, without me being aware that that marketplace even exists!!!!!! The manners and attitude of the individual representative of Xentel where reprehensible, to put it as nicely as possible. They should be banned from any activity, other than street sweeping. Mike Kruer, Scottville, MI

Anonymous said...

I work for Xentel and I understand your complaints about being called several times a day. Usually this is the result of the rep who called you miscoding the call - at the end of the call we 'code' it as not interested, or no answer, or answering machine, etc. Sometimes an employee will miscode it, thus leading to more calls. It's frustrating, yes, but our managers do take it seriously. They listen to calls and will speak to employees they catch miscoding calls. Some people even lose bonuses or even their jobs for not doing their job properly. Sometimes the attitude of the person they called plays a part - if they were exceptionally rude or abusive, the rep codes the call as 'no answer', leading to more calls within hours from other reps. This isn't right and they do get in trouble for it, but it does happen occasionally. Also, yes, we get paid to do this job. But when you donate, the money goes to the charity, and it is between the charity and Xentel to negotiate our fees. It would be nice if only volunteers did this job, but the reality is there would be overhead for the space as well as the equipment anyways. Nothing is free, and the charity will get more donations if they pay a few hundred people to make calls rather than struggle to find 5 volunteers to work the phones. They would reach so few members of the community that it wouldn't be worth it.