Spring's position regarding ‘scam’ mailings in the UK

Spring takes very seriously any concerns about the content of mail but as we have no powers to act as a censor, we work closely with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to identify scam mail and, where necessary, cancel contracts – to date we have cancelled 13 contracts.

It is just not possible to identify scam mail even when the mail is sent in transparent wrapping. A recent mailing claimed to be an example of scam mail was subject to legal action brought against the sender by the OFT. The judge ruled that the mailings were not illegal or scams and ordered the OFT to pay all legal costs.

We allow our customers to use Spring’s UK address when they have no UK address of their own. This is standard practice for all overseas mail and is provided purely to enable undeliverable or response items to be returned to the sender. It does not mean that the mail originates from this address or that the staff in Spring’s UK office are responsible for it.

We do work with the ASA and the OFT to combat the issue of scam mailings and we are the only international mail services provider to have signed an Information Sharing Protocol with the OFT.

Scam mail is a problem that is damaging not just to consumers but everyone involved in our industry. Our future is dependent on a healthy direct mail sector and this is why we constantly review the processes that we have in place to combat the issue.