A distressed Edinburgh mum has claimed that cold callers 'faked an emergency' to gain access to her property. The homeowner who lives in the Lochend area of the city claims the two women who identified themselves as TalkTalk subcontractors shouted "there's an emergency" and "help let us in" outside her house on Thursday March 30.
The worried mum opened the door and was left raging after realising there was no emergency as the women began their sales pitch. TalkTalk has confirmed they have launched an investigation into the incident which involved sales representatives employed by a third-party company.
The concerned mum told Edinburgh Live: "I had heard them at the main door just as I stepped into the hallway because I was going to grab something with my kids and heard girls voices yell 'let us in it's an emergency' and went to the main door. They had buzzed and were yelling about it being an emergency and said help.
"I could tell something was off but I expected it to be drug users. When I saw it was two girls with lanyards on my attitude changed and I told them off for saying that.
"They walked away and a minute later as I was leaving the building with my kids a man appeared with the same lanyard buzzed in by a vulnerable neighbour. He had the same lanyard on and I asked if he was with the girls and he claimed to be their supervisor then denied what they had said."
She continued: "He claimed they told him I was angry and didn't let them in but refused to accept these girls made up a lie to get access. It turns out another neighbour had chatted with this sales guy and when I went out again he apologised and claimed to pass out the complaint to his manager or whatever.
"I then told him another lady in the area saw the same girls and heard them say to 'just run in its open'. TalkTalk sales came before like five months ago and were not sketchy at all.
"I signed up and it's fine but I even told these salespeople that it was wrong what they did and that I'm the only one who was interested and I have TalkTalk already. Hopefully, they don't come back to target me but it's really shameful behaviour for sales."
The resident did not report the incident to police as they did not believe criminality had taken place, but also thinks other neighbours had been targeted too.
A TalkTalk spokesperson said: “We ensure that there is a robust training process in place for sales representatives employed by third parties to represent TalkTalk.
"We have asked the supplier in this case for a review of this incident. The footage is clear that neither sales representative attempted to physically force their way into the property."
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