We only had a line rental with them that we stopped 20 months ago. No permissions were given previously too, as far as I am aware.

We had online billing only and I made sure all communications boxes were ticked / unticked appropriately as not to receive any comms from them.

Edited by deleted (Wed 10-Jun-15 20:52:40)

Just stick the junk mails in the recycling and forget about it. There's far more important things to worry about in life.

Unlike with electronic communications, there is no legally backed opt-out register from marketing via postal mail. It is good practice for organisations not to send to people on the Mail Preference Service register, but they do not break the law by failing to respect MPS registration.

However, the Data Protection Act 1998 says, in essence, that organisations must make fair use of your personal data. If you ask an organisation to stop sending you marketing communications via postal mail, it must do so. If you brought a complaint against BT Retail, BT Retail would have to show that they did not use personal data for purposes other than it was collected for, also that you did not have an opt-out from receiving postal marketing in force.


It would appear difficult for an organisation to claim successfully that a previous explicit opt-out from postal marketing had been cancelled by a new enquiry that did not explicitly rescind that opt-out.

However, I haven't checked whether there is case law or guidance about how the Data Protection Act 1998 requirement to keep personal data for no longer than necessary applies to marketing opt-outs from people with whom the company has no ongoing relationship. I think it is very difficult to argue against "as long as necessary" meaning indefinitely in this context, on the basis that there should be no need to renew an opt-out and only an explicit opt-in should cancel an opt-out. In any event, respecting obsolete opt-outs will prevent a company wasting resources on sending information to people who have moved or died. However, there is an argument that opt-out information eventually goes out of date, so there could be circumstances in which an opt-out can reasonably be discarded.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Oh, yes, it is. How often do firms say 'If you leave your name & phone no, we'll call you back when the item's in stock and, by the way, we'll use your details to also call you with attractive marketing offers that we think you may like'?

And if they don't say the latter, then they have no right at all to call you with them.

As I've explained elsewhere in the thread, postal mail (which is what the original poster is complaining about) and electronic communications are subject to different rules.


If a UK company uses personal data for purposes other than which it obtained that data, it has almost certainly broken the fair use provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. However, a UK company may coincidentally start unsolicited telephone marketing to an individual at the same time as it receives personal data from that individual for other than marketing purposes, so long as:

• the number was not registered with the Telephone Preference Scheme more than 28 days before the date of the call, and
• the company can show it obtained the name and number via a legitimate route (such as a list of names and numbers sold by a company who has obtained permission to share your details with "carefully selected third parties" for marketing purposes), rather than from misusing the personal data from the enquiry about the out of stock item

Contrary to your assertion otherwise, a UK company does not have to obtain opt-in permission before starting to make marketing calls to an individual. Any act is lawful unless prohibited by law.

Very sensible advice.

I just wanted to bring attention to underhand practices of BT customer service staff.

Thanks again, David, for all the useful information and advice.

Another reply from BT Residential Services asking me to call the billing team at 0800800150 to stop marketing adverts, the number, I believe I called before, but will check when I get home. A potential step back to square number 1.

The positive thing so far is that they are, at least, replying fairly quickly to my emails.

Have you tried posting it back saying return to sender.. Probably quicker than trying to call up etc.
I have done in the past and all of a sudden I stopped getting that junk.

We too don't like junk mail, far too much personal info being trawled for commercial use (and worse) and the junk fills up our letter box, advertising our absence when we are not at home.

Some years ago we received a steady flow of junk from a holiday company which we had used a couple of times, even though we always declined 'marketing offers'. I phoned, emailed and wrote to them on six occasions but the fat brochures kept coming, often in duplicate. David's excellent advice posts confirm my own impressions of the problems of stopping it.

After a year of this I wrote recorded delivery to the company secretary asking them to desist and advising that there would be a £20 disposal fee for any further junk, and by sending it they would be deemed to agree to this fee. Another brochure arrived the next week, by which time the secretary found our name had been listed twice, once by Christian names, the other by initials.

We would certainly have gone to Small Claims to recover the money, simply to obtain publicity. Companies and now certain charities are at last realising the annoyance they cause by this behaviour. As for the nuisance phone calls ...

Sensible advice too. I also believe it worked for me before and might do it additionally.

The thing is we haven't been receiving any junk mail for a while since we signed up with a Mail Preference Service some time ago and put sticker "No Junk Mail" on a letter box, so this was such a blatant violation of trust.

I am now using this exercise to assess the BT's customer Services as they are a major broadband provider and I was considering using them as a possible future provider.