CHARLES DUNSTONE, the owner of the Carphone Warehouse group, has made no secret of his desire for Talk Talk, the group’s home-phone service, to be BT’s main competitor. But last week he came under pressure to defend high-pressure sales techniques by Talk Talk representatives.

In December Carphone Warehouse bought the phone operators Onetel and Tele2, doubling its landline customer base to 2.4m, and giving it 10.4% of the market. BT is still by far the largest home-phone provider with a 56.2% share and NTL is second with 11.3%.

However, as Carphone Warehouse strives to attract new customers, there are question marks over its sales methods. The Sunday Times has been contacted by a number of readers angry at the hard-sell tactics used by some Talk Talk salespeople.

Two saleswomen from Talk Talk knocked at the front door of Mark Peters, pictured, a 31-year-old teacher from Herne Hill, south London, at 8pm on a Wednesday evening. Peters said: “They told me that someone from BT should have been in contact with us, as BT were transferring all their landline customers in our road over to Talk Talk. They said all we needed to do was sign a contract.

“They tried to make out we had no choice in this and it was something we had to do that had been organised by BT. It sounded a bit strange, as nobody from BT had been in touch, so we wanted to check with them before we signed anything.

“Also, we were not looking to switch providers because we barely use the landline. We only have it because we have broadband internet. Our phone bills are small and any savings would be minimal. But one of the saleswomen in particular was very forceful, almost aggressive, and it was quite a struggle to get rid of them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people whose doors they knocked on that evening signed the contract, as there are a lot of elderly people living on our road who probably didn’t think to question their story.”

Another reader has complained about over-zealous salespeople knocking on her door. In this case, the Talk Talk representatives didn’t concoct such a convoluted story. They just claimed that they could save her money. But they wanted to come into the house and have the contract signed there and then.

People who have bought mobiles from Carphone Warehouse have also commented on hard selling. One reader, who asked not to be named, said: “You expect companies to try to cross-sell things but I was made to feel really uncomfortable when I bought a mobile.

“The salesman started to try and get me to switch my home phone to Talk Talk. I said that I wasn’t interested, but he persisted and in the end I got confused about what exactly it was that he was offering and I just capitulated and agreed because I thought it was easier just to sign up so that I could get away. I cancelled the service later.”

In a statement Talk Talk said: “We follow strict guidelines which go beyond Ofcom’s sales and marketing code of practice. We closely monitor the quality of all our sales methods and allegations of mis- selling are immediately investigated. Disciplinary procedures are in place for any agent who fails to follow these guidelines.

“We would urge these residents to provide us with further details to enable us to conduct a full investigation into these alleged incidents. Any evidence of malpractice would lead to a case of gross misconduct and dismissal.”

However, with the possible exception of the Peters case, it is unlikely that the reported incidents are breaching any regulations because it is not illegal to be pushy. But that does not mean consumers need to tolerate high-pressure sales techniques.