Nine out of ten consumers continue to receive unsolicited commercial calls, at least one in the last month, despite the entry into force, more than three years ago, of the General Telecommunications Law, which prohibits such calls.
This is revealed by a survey carried out by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) in which 1,518 people participated and according to which, in addition, the frequency of these calls is “very high”, taking into account that 23% of respondents received ten or more calls in the last 30 days, the association said in a statement this Thursday.
The OCU also reported that one in five calls “directly violates” the regulations, since the teleoperator “does not identify the company for which he works.”
Regarding the rest, the vast majority (72%) come from companies with which the consumer has not contracted any type of service, although the organization specified that this “does not necessarily imply that they are illegal calls,” since the law allows the transfer of customer data between companies when the user “does not expressly object to it.”
“The fact is that for the consumer it is difficult, if not impossible, to know the scope of these agreements and to know if the call can be reported to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD),” the entity warned. It also requires the AEPD to “activate its control and surveillance tasks” and, “if necessary,” impose “exemplary” sanctions for “repeated non-compliance” with commercial communications regulations.
In parallel, he urged consumers to, before signing any new service contract, “review one by one” the authorizations proposed by the company, which “often” are already “marked by default” to “validate and consent” this type of use.
In his opinion, another “preventive” action that is “simpler” and that up to 37% of those surveyed “take advantage of” is to activate the ‘Call and spam detection’ option so that they are “filtered and do not ring”, as long as The mobile phone is Android, since if the mobile phone is an iPhone you have to download this function from the App Store.
“It is not 100% effective, but it filters a good part of these unwanted calls,” explained the OCU, while warning that, if they still continue to receive “insistent” calls from a specific company, “they must contact them in writing so that stop using your personal data for commercial purposes.”
