When I made a blog post on the 17th March (here) I honestly thought the unlawful junk call I had received had been made by Verso Group (UK) Ltd. I am TPS registered and this was a marketing call, so unlawful.
You can see how I might have jumped to that conclusion:
- The call was from 02081507530, a number from which they apparently call
- The caller claimed to be calling from British Savers Club, a name they apparently use
- This was apparently a "lead generation" type call, the very business they are in
- The caller claimed to be calling from Verso Group, even spelling it for me, and confirming when I said Verso Group (UK) Ltd.
It seems that I was wrong!
Someone has called today apparently from Verso Group (UK) Ltd, and stated in no uncertain terms that "We've actually never dialled him", and "the recording he's posted has nothing to do with our business", and "it wasn't a call that was made by our company".
So clearly, on the word of a man claiming to be calling from Verso Group (UK) Ltd today, I have to assume that the call from a man claiming to be calling from Verso Group (UK) Ltd on 17th March was actually lying, and was not in fact calling from Verso Group (UK) Ltd and was, in fact, an imposter.
I do sincerely apologise for making this assumption.
The blog post makes it clear that the call was only apparently from Verso Group (UK) Ltd, and I hope that my apology here meets with the approval of Verso Group (UK) Ltd and clears up this misunderstanding.
I appreciate that it can be frustrating when this sort of thing happens - we have had A&A customers get pop-ups claiming to be a survey by A&A and then being a scam, and they too are nothing to do with us.
I am really struggling why someone would impersonate Verso Group (UK) Ltd, and to what end, but that is what they are suggesting has happened. You have my sympathies, Verso Group (UK) Ltd. Clearly you are not the sort of company that would flout rules on calling people on the TPS, or laws on company names on web sites and emails, or any of those things, oh, wait... No, really, it was not you calling, obviously.
The good news is that, now that we know the call was definitely not made by Verso Group (UK) Ltd, it is clear that there can be no issue with my posting the recording - here it is again for you to listen to. Remember, it is apparently not actually Verso Group (UK) Ltd making the call, so no matter how daft they sound, you should not form any bad opinion about Verso Group (UK) Ltd when listening to it. Even so, it does not even appear to be defamatory of Verso Group (UK) Ltd in its content from what I can hear - it is the exact business they are in - lead generation, and exactly the sort of call people report as having received from them on various forums. I made it clear in the call that it was being recorded to post on Facebook (which that link is) and he said "yes" and continued with the call. Verso Group (UK) Ltd have no say over the call recording as it was not them making it, not that they had much anyway, but they can't claim the employee was not authorised to agree to publication as it was not their employee. They cannot claim it is private or confidential as it was not them making the call. It may be useful evidence for them if they have an issue with people passing off as them and I am happy for them to use the recording for that purpose if they want to pursue legal action against the actual caller.
Anyway, now that is out of the way, it is interesting to report on some aspects of my day...
Last night A&A got an email, claiming to be from Verso Group (UK) Ltd, threatening legal action, claiming that the recording is private and confidential and Verso Group UK Ltd do not give any permissions for the recording to be posted on a public domain. Well, permission was obtained in the call, listen. But this seems at odds with the claims today, apparently from Verso Group (UK) Ltd, that they never made the call. If they never made the call they cannot claim it is private or confidential to them! Maybe this email was also from an imposter! Or was it the calls today that were from an imposter. How could I know?
Today we got calls from someone claiming to be from Verso Group (UK) Ltd. Again, threatening legal action against A&A, saying "I'm going to come down to your office", suggesting that I am "hiding behind a social media page" and that he would "rather the guy had a bit of balls and contacted me". Oddly, calling back his office twice this afternoon he was in meetings or on a call and did not call back - maybe it is not his turn for the balls today? (I assume these are like executive stress balls or something).
With both written and verbal legal threats against A&A, we had our solicitor on site all day as he said "I'm going to come down to your office" after his 10:30 meeting. We waited, and waited. Solicitors are not cheap, so I hope he does not mind the the bill if this does go any further against A&A. Hopefully he'll consider the matter settled with the above apology. I wonder how many of the complaints on the various forums and even the Verso Group (UK) Ltd Facebook page are actually by imposters! What a terrible situation to be in.
As I own copyright in the recording I am saying now that people can copy and repost it as much as they like and laugh at the irony of a company (even if it was not in fact Verso Group (UK) Ltd) trying to sell me better broadband!!!
Someone is lying and I only know for sure it's not you.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/ReFhu8KYbmU
ReplyDeleteApplause from me!
ReplyDeleteIt'd be interesting to know the current position or progress of the Section 10 DPA notice that James Wild posted that he had sent to Verso Group under your original blog.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, is there any similar legal way that you could demand to see what what data, if any, Verso hold about you? Any at all, other than what is in the public domain, would be illegal in itself.
Can't believe the neck of the chap. But it's hardly surprising. I've come across a good few companies who are very small and who think they can behave like this.
ReplyDeleteI note that while this person claiming to be from Verso insists the call was not made by any employee of Verso, he hasn't denied selling your information on (to someone who may be the imposter).
ReplyDeleteI'll have to do a DPA subject access request at some point to find out.
Deletecompliance@versogroup.co.uk is the address to use. Handily you get an automated reply, so delivery is confirmed.
DeleteThis may be the best post you've ever written :)
ReplyDeleteThis may be the best post you've ever written :)
ReplyDeleteOhhhhh- "British Savers Club" - I thought he said "British SHAVERS Club" - THAT's where I thought the irony lay.
ReplyDeleteverso group ... cannot understand a word they say must be either foreign or far away, they must hacked off with people putting the phone down on them, hopefully they can phone themselves and claim for having an accident !!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic post!
ReplyDeleteI had a call from, or possibly not from, Verso whilst at work, and despite trying to deflect several personal information inquiries, had to deal with four X "just one final question"s a Rottweiler is less tenacious...
Love it !
ReplyDeleteThey are still at it.. same old fake survey.. I am not trying to sell you anything.. blah blah..
why do they bother..
Verso's explanation makes perfect sense: someone falsely claimed to be from Verso Group so as to gain your trust. Capitalising off of the good name of respectable mass-marketing companies is a classic tactic of scammers.
ReplyDelete