Business Recording Phone Conversations Without Warning

chillybags on 11/05/2020 - 21:36
Last edited 11/05/2020 - 21:45 by 1 other user

I have had a dispute over a purchase with a business. It is a fairly large business which multiple stores Australia wide. Today on the phone out of the blue the manager stated that she went back and listened to recording of the conversation I have had with different employees over the phone. There was no warning of conversations being recorded and thus also no consent given my self for the recordings to take place. A lot of call centres warn that they are recording for training purposes and ask for consent so this seemed strange to me that they would be recording without warning. Upon googling this it seems that it is illegal in NSW unless consent is given.

There is a lot of links to legal websites that I assume would require fees to take legal action and take the business to court. I just want to report the company and be done with it. Can I just call my local police station and report it? Seems you can report crimes with crime-stoppers but that seems to be more where people are in danger and "actual crime" Will they even bother to investigate this or would they have bigger fish to fry?

Any advice would be appreciated or anyone who has seen something similar to this before.

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  Blue Cat on 11/05/2020 - 22:10

  +1

  Which state is the business in?
  AFAIK, if they are calling from a Queensland located call center/office, QLD rules apply, so they don't have to alert you of the call being recorded.

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    chillybags on 11/05/2020 - 22:27

    +1

    It’s NSW stores that I have been speaking to.

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      Blue Cat on 11/05/2020 - 22:34

      I read the law on this about a year ago, so my memory might mistaken me.
      They can record it without consent but it can not be used as evidence in any legal manner if you have not given consent. So what they do with that information is up to them, but they can't sue you.

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  Settero on 11/05/2020 - 22:18

  are you sure ?

  ask for a transcript , a easy way to shut people down is to say you have reviewed the recording and that they are wrong , even if there isn't a recording at all :)

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    chillybags on 11/05/2020 - 22:30

    When I questioned her about it she said all the calls are recorded but then I did ask if this call is being recorded and she said no.

  • 

    chillybags on 18/05/2020 - 06:52

    Asked for a transcript or the recording and they suddenly accepted my request and resolved the dispute in my favour. Thanks for the tip!

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  jelko on 12/05/2020 - 00:19

  +1

  What have you got to hide? Have you been making false claims and are now upset that you have been caught lying?

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    chillybags on 12/05/2020 - 06:46

    +1

    Absolutely nothing to hide. Just pretty annoyed with how they are conducting business. In fact I'm mounting a case for misleading and deceptive advertising and if they were either lying to me about making recordings or actually undertaking illegal activity I imagine it would help my case.

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  whooah1979 on 12/05/2020 - 05:54

  What did you do?

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  HeWhoKnows on 12/05/2020 - 08:53

  Mate just forget it!

  Too much wasted energy and you get nothing back for it.

  The only thing you can do is to tell them they cant use the recorded call as evidence as it was recorded illegally.
  End of story

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  GG57 on 12/05/2020 - 09:03

  IF you were recorded, which part of that content would be damaging to your claim?
  Were you rude, racist, sexist, etc?
  Or has the content of your conversations changed over the course of multiple calls?

  I wouldn't be worried about the recording unless you fear this would not help your cause.