[Closed] Is it illegal to record phone calls?

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/consumer/advice/faqs/prvfaq3.htm

Can I record telephone conversations on my home phone?

Yes. The relevant law, RIPA, does not prohibit individuals from recording their own communications provided that the recording is for their own use. Recording or monitoring are only prohibited where some of the contents of the communication - which can be a phone conversation or an e-mail - are made available to a third party, ie someone who was neither the caller or sender nor the intended recipient of the original communication.

So - you can record it, but not play it back to anyone else?

Not illegal for a private individual providing it's for your own use. I'd say in this case that you are doing it to protect yourself in a dispute, you'd be fine.

Doh!

tell them it's for training purposes and for their security - they'll bloody love that

Thanks cougar, I got a bit confused with what i read on google. I've been promised something by a certain date (2 failed attempts) and have no record of it as it was verbal, hence why I wanted to get a recording. As soon as the Voda man knew I was recording the delivery changed from Monday to possibly Monday.

Thanks for replies

See - that's one reason to do it all by email. At least you have a record of any promises made. I wish I'd learnt that lesson 6 months ago....

In my experience, Vodafone customer service people excel at multi-tasking, especially telling you one thing verbally while typing something completely different into their computer.

Were you recording it?

FWIW, you got a standard response. When I worked in a call centre, if I was told a customer was recording the call I'd automatically reply that recording was illegal and if they didn't desist I'd terminate the call. invariably they'd either go "I'm not really" or get into a right panic. I never really knew whether that was true or not (it was a long time ago), but it achieved the desired effect.

I've been promised something by a certain date (2 failed attempts)

If they've promised something on a given date, and the delivery has arrived on that date but failed because of other reasons such as you weren't in, they've made good on their promise.

The item (SIM) wasn't posted on 2 occasions 🙁

I was told by an insurance firm that I wasn't allowed to write down what they were telling me! I'd asked them to speak slowly so that I could.

Vodaphone PAH! try cancelling a contract with them, its nigh on Impossible 😡

You have every right to record your own telephone conversations, you just can't use it as evidence. However, you can inform the other party that you are recording for you own security.

The item (SIM) wasn't posted on 2 occasions

I was told by an insurance firm that I wasn't allowed to write down what they were telling me! I'd asked them to speak slowly so that I could.

Time to get a new insurance company.

You have every right to record your own telephone conversations, you just can't use it as evidence.

Not wholly sure about that - all calls at work at recorded, both in and out. Don't know how that works in terms of [u]whose[/u] calls they are and who is recording them (i.e. where does the company sit in that legally) but they're certainly used for ensuring regulatory conditions are being met (ie. no-one's dealing into their own account) and that in the case of any dispute there's a solid record of what was bought / sold. I'm also pretty sure that the records have been used in disciplinary tribunals etc...

you can record conversations, you don't have to tell them, and you can use it in the english courts (but they might not have any effect). I know this as someone sued me 3 years ago and did exactly this. The judge had no objection to him playing small parts of his recordings, but then told the claimant that he didn't think he could take the "evidence" at face value as he couldn't verify it's provenance... BTW, I won.

The item (SIM) wasn't posted on 2 occasions

Wasn't posted or wasn't received?
Ask them to send it recorded.

Wasn't despatched due to a 'technical reason in their system' the person I spoke to insisted it would be here Monday morning via special delivery, which to me seemed dubious as we had the conversation on Sat night (he was a manager who was supposed to call in the morning) when I said I was recording he changed his mind about Monday and said it was illegal to record and Vodaphone are a huge company with lawyers. Perhaps by writing that here I've broken another one of his laws, he he 🙂

Not sure how it could be illegal for you to do it but not for them.

Vodaphone PAH! try cancelling a contract with them, its nigh on Impossible

Not really, you have to do it in writing though.

I had a similar saga with Three over non-delivery of a SIM card a few years ago. You'll probably find in the small print of your contract that it can be cancelled due to Three (Voda in this case) not being able to provide a service due to reasons out of their control.

I'd suggest you have a look at that, as they (just like Three with me) seem to have a number of reasons outside of their control as to why you are yet to receive that SIM card. So tell them you are cancelling your contract due to clause XXXX, and that if they complain, you have a record of the conversation. Funnily enough, I had a SIM card 12 hours later by special courier. Seems it wasn't so out of their control after all...

When you start record someones voice, you have to inform them you are recording the conversation and if they agree to it, ask them to state their identity and also, "I agree to the recording of my voice in this session."

If they refuse, you cannot share the recording. In court, the recording could have been tampered with, there are legal ways for trained people using certain equipment and with permission to record and produce as evidence.

There was an issue in a particular university where a student recorded high up staff bullying him, and he made everyone aware he had the recording. Although the staff member blocked the recordings release by not giving permission, the fact it was blocked meant everyone assumed the bullying must be true. Legally? Hmm, I go by my assumption nowadays that "people are c**ts!"

Now, companies who state they are recording you, you can say "no!" and they don't know what to do. They don't turn the recording off, they don't have the ability. One of these days I'm going to look into how legal it is for a company to record you after you say "no!", how to FOI the recording and use to sue them for privacy breach in court, etc.

wouldn't it be data protection act, not foi?

Just be careful, you don't know where this might end:

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Get your FOI's in whilst you can! There are moves to strike them out of general use for not producing public accountability differences. Although I never trust FOI's answers. The answer to one on something I see as highly 'immoral' in my locale did not answer the question correctly at all.

Keep them on hold but occassionally chip in that their call IS important to you.....!

I'm certainly no legal expert but I have been advised in the past to create "email trails" for important verbal agreements.
Basically immediately after the verbal exchange you write to the other person confirming the discussion/agreement that took place.
A lack of reply infers acknowledgement and acceptance of the discussion.

A lack of reply infers acknowledgement and acceptance of the discussion.

I always thought a second lack of reply whilst requesting information is a sign of guilt to be used in a prosecution? A single failure to reply is simply an error.

Hi catflees,

I am really disappointed to hear that you have had an ongoing issue that is yet to be resolved for you.

If you would like to contact me personally to deal with this for you, you can email me [url= https://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=ESCALATION_REQUEST&CONFIGURATION=1000&PARTITION_ID=1 ]here [/url]with WRT135 FAO Heidi in the subject.

If you could include a link to your post and a contact number, I will get in touch.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Bloody hell Catflees, they [i]are[/i] watching you......

[i]The walls go up.....[/i]

It's just Google alerts peoples, nothing sinister. Unless you find Google sinister, of course....

😯

😯

Heidi eh?
All Heidis are hot FACT

😯 😯 😯

der ner ner ner der ner ner ner
(twilight zone music)
They've obviously picked up that little google skill from brant 🙂

Whatever you do, don't try typing vodaphone backwards at midnight...

[img] http://goo.gl/B4lDx [/img]

Thanks Heidi, the SIM card hasn't appeared. I would email you but I'm scared after your associate told me I was breaking the law by recording him to contact you again. You can ring me however on the mobile phone you have supplied me with, I won't answer though as it doesn't have a SIM card.