News

There is a new weapon in the fight against pesky and persistent door-to-door energy salespeople. Australians can now visit www.donotknock.org.au, fill out a simple form, and have their ‘Do Not Knock’ request delivered directly to all energy retailers.

In most Australian states, energy retailers are required to abide by a consumer’s requests for its salespeople not to visit but, until now, contacting every retailer individually was time consuming and difficult. The ‘No Contact Form,’ developed by the Consumer Action Law Centre, means making the request is now quick and easy.

‘Not many Australians know that energy retailers in most states have to keep a record of households that have requested to be left in peace,’ said Consumer Action CEO, Gerard Brody. ‘And those that did know about it would’ve had to contact each retailer individually. Now that they’re able to fill out just one form and have it sent to every energy retailer, we’re confident that more people will make use of this important consumer protection.’

‘The success of our Do Not Knock sticker showed unequivocally that Australians don’t like salespeople visiting their homes. We see this No Contact Form as another tool to help households assert their right to enjoy uninterrupted family time, and their right not to be misled by pushy salespeople,’ said Mr Brody.

Consumer Action is also giving Queenslanders the opportunity to fill out the form despite that state’s regulations not requiring energy retailers to respect a person’s request not to be door knocked. The Centre hopes energy retailers will respect the wishes of Queenslanders who fill out the form.

Mr Brody said filling out the form was like putting up a Do Not Knock sticker, ‘the message it sends is clear as day – “leave me alone, I don’t want to buy energy at my door”. It would be disrespectful to ignore such a simple request.’

‘We’re pleased that two retailers recently gave up door-to-door selling and we’re hoping that the community’s response to this new form will help convince other retailers like Origin to follow suit.

‘Quite honestly it’s a shame that we still have to pressure some companies to stop door-to-door sales. It’s a type of marketing that uses high pressure and sometimes misleading sales tactics to sell energy plans that might not be suitable for a household’s needs,’ said Mr Brody.

END

Media Contact: Dan Simpson, 0413 299 567