Charity and Emergency Services Publications

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Hampshire receives a high level of complaints from businesses that have been contacted by telephone and asked to place advertisements in publications professing to support charitable organisations or the Emergency Services.

Many of the companies producing this type of publication - diaries, wall planners, directories etc - are based in the Wirral/Merseyside area and whilst some of the publications are produced in agreement with a registered charity or one of the emergency services, many are not. The complaints we receive relate to the following practices:-

 

• Telephone calls claiming an existing agreement to support the publication when there is no such agreement.
  

• Sending demands for payment when no agreement to support the publication has been made.
  

• Sending demands for payment when a prospective advertiser has only asked for written information about the publication.
  

• Telesales staff making false or misleading statements about the publication.
  

• Failing to give to the prospective advertiser a solicitation statement in respect of publications produced for charities.
  (The Charities Act & Regulations requires prospective donors to be given information about the proportion of their donation which will be used for charitable purposes. This information must be given every time a solicitation - whether verbal or written - is made).
  

• Using debt collection agencies or making threats of court action where the contract between the business and the publisher is disputed.
  

• The tape recording of telephone conversations by the publisher without the agreement of the business.

You and your employees should be aware that an agreement to place an advertisement - even when made by telephone - can be a legally binding contract and in most cases you are not entitled to a cancellation period after making such an agreement.

Unless you receive satisfactory responses to the questions on the telesales check list below you should exercise extreme caution about supporting such publications. You may prefer to make donations directly to the charity of your choice or to contact your local emergency services sponsorship officer to find out how you might best support them. We suggest you print off the checklist and distribute it to your employees.

Reproduced with the kind permission of Wirral Trading Standards

 

This advice is designed to provide basic guidance to traders. It is not a complete or authoritative statement of the law. For further assistance on this or any other Trading Standards legislation, please contact your nearest office. We will be pleased to offer this information in larger print or translated into any language on request.

 

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