Consumer Watch with Candice Evans: How to deal with mountain loads of spam or unsolicited communications

Unsolicited sellers come in all shapes and sizes, trying to grab your attention to buy or sign up for their products or services. Traditionally, salespeople knock on your door to deliver a sales pitch in-person and Consumer Protection has regulations that control when they can visit you. Should you make an agreement with a door-to-door seller, they must provide a copy of the signed contract and disclose your “cooling off” or termination rights. Under the Australian Consumer Law, you have 10 business days to reconsider an agreement and cancel it without penalty. The more common and frustrating sales tactics now involve bombarding your phone with unwanted text messages, crowding your inbox with spam emails or ringing you to promote telemarketing businesses. Spam emails and text messages are regulated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. There are strict rules around how businesses, wanting to sell you something, can contact you, with ACMA dealing with breaches and taking complaints from consumers about spam, very seriously. Big businesses, such as Kmart, rideshare and food delivery company Uber Australia, and Ticketek, have been fined a combined total of more than $2 million this year for breaching Australia’s spam laws. ACMA’s investigations found that Uber sent more than two million marketing emails without offering an unsubscribe facility, Ticketek sent almost 100,000 texts and emails either without recipients’ consent or to people who had previously unsubscribed, and Kmart sent more than 200,000 marketing emails in breach of spam laws. It’s important to remember that commercial marketers must have your permission to send you a marketing message. They must include their contact details in the message and offer you a way to unsubscribe or “stop” receiving their messages. You can also take matters into your own hands by using your email ‘junk’ filters or your phone settings to block marketing messages. If you feel that a company has not processed your unsubscribe request, you can also report this to ACMA. If you want to lodge a formal complaint about unwanted communications or spam, ACMA can help at www.acma.gov.au, or if you believe a trader has breached the rules on unsolicited sales agreements, contact Consumer Protection on 1300 30 40 54 or email consumer@dmirs.wa.gov.au. Candice Evans is senior regional officer for Consumer Protection in the Mid West and Murchison