In a landmark case that could set a precedent for other companies to take similar action, Brentaski invoiced the cold calling organisations £60 for every phone call they received.
“We decided that as it was costing us money for staff, office equipment and so forth to answer the calls we would invoice the spammers £60 for each call they made to us,” said Wayne Naylor, ski instructor and owner of Brentaski.
Although the cold callers initially refused to pay, and in many cases denied even making the calls in the first place, Brentaski had been recording the conversations which meant they were able to prove it in court.
“What we discovered was that making these phone calls is totally illegal which means that directors of the spamming companies were also equally personally as liable to pay us as the company,” added Mr Naylor.
“In one of our recent cases against a spammer trying to sell a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) refund service they simply lied to the court and denied making any calls to us.
“Without the recordings it would have been impossible to prove otherwise.”
Law changes earlier this year increased the maximum penalty the bosses of cold calling companies could be fined to £500,000, while a single complaint is now enough for the ICO to launch an investigation.
