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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Iona Young

Edinburgh cold callers 'fake emergency' in bid to get into mum's home

A worried mum has claimed cold callers in Edinburgh 'faked an emergency' to gain entry to her family home in Restalrig.

The alleged incident took place on Thursday, March 30 at a property in Lochend, when two women wearing lanyards identified themselves as TalkTalk subcontractors and shouted 'there's an emergency' and 'help let us in'.

When the worried mum opened the door she was furious to learn there was no emergency as the cold callers began their pitch.

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TalkTalk has confirmed the sales representatives in the video footage are employed by a third-party supplier, who trains its representatives and are contracted by TalkTalk.

The telecommunications company says they have investigated with the company, speaking to both reps and the team leader present on the day.

The concerned resident 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."

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Finally, she added: "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."

They added: "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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