NSW Is It Legal Not to Inform Customers of Voice Recording?

[Eric Bailey]

Hello. I am a business owner and we rent phone numbers from companies. We forward these phone numbers on to our business partners (who are plumbing companies) and record the calls. Customers call the number that we rented and talk directly to the plumbing companies. We do not talk to the customer at all. We just connect them with the plumbing companies.

My question is this, I do not want to have the whisper at the beginning of the call (i.e. "This call may be monitored or recorded for quality and training"). Is this legal? Do I have to inform the customers that the call is being recorded or not?

The voice recording stay on company's servers and they are only used so that we can properly bill our business partners and to make sure the calls are qualified.

Thoughts?

 

[Sophea]

Hi Eric

Recording of telephone conversations, is tightly controlled by law. Both the Telecommunications (Interception & Access) Act Cth and State and Territory laws on listening devices may apply to what you are doing. As a general rule calls may NOT be recorded, however there are limited exceptions such as where police have a warrant for suspected criminal activity.

The only way around it is to have the informed consent (agreement) of the parties to the call. If a telephone conversation is to be recorded or monitored, you must tell the caller at the beginning of the conversation of this, so that they have the chance to either end the call or proceed.

If you are not gaining the consent of both the caller and the plumber you are putting them through to, then you activity is illegal.

 

[Sophea]

Further to my previous comment, it is however, generally legal for a telephone call to be recorded with an external device (e.g. Dictaphone - not something attached to or installed in the telephone) by a person who is a party to the conversation.

 

[Eric Bailey]

Thanks Sophea for your answer. I did not want to land in hot water. I will make sure that there is a brief message at the start of the call informing them that the call may be recorded.