Fucking call centres.

[TaliZorah]

Should be banned from cold calling people. I had finally got DS to sleep and thought I'd have a crafty 30 minutes to myself. Some arse rings asking about PPI and the phone wakes up DS.

I get several of these calls a day. I'm on the TPS and it does nothing.

If I want your services, I will call YOU.

AIBU to think companies doing this should face fines and penalties?

[FishWithABicycle]

The ones who are calling despite TPS are already ignoring the rules (and are probably based overseas so that the UK government has no jurisdiction anyway) so additional legislation for more fines and penalties will have no effect (other than jeopardise employment at legitimate businesses who spend lots of money already ensuring they comply with legislation e.g. spending £££ every month running their contact lists through TPS to delete people who don't want calls).

Phone companies ought to do more to block these calls - it would be technically feasible for them to set up a system where you could report that the call you received at 12:32pm was unwanted Spam - and they could find out who made the call and a critical number of complaints could then trigger a block. At the moment all you can do is complain to OFCOM but you have to know the name of the business that called you and that's difficult to know.

However why on earth do you have your phone set to ring loud enough to wake a sleeping child? It is very easy to set a phone to not ring - or unplug it at the wall if it's too ancient for that - and let it ring again when nap time stops. We also have a phone which diverts any number which doesn't match to known friends and family to a voicemail and we return the calls if we want to.

[TaliZorah]

Phone companies ought to do more to block these calls - it would be technically feasible for them to set up a system where you could report that the call you received at 12:32pm was unwanted Spam - and they could find out who made the call and a critical number of complaints could then trigger a block.

That would be great, I wish someone would do that.

And because DS doesn't have set nap times so short of unplugging it all the time (it's ancient) there's no way of working out when it'll be needed to be on and off. Plus I have sick relatives and genuinely need to be contactable.

[QuietTiger]

We got so many of these calls we ended up buying a BT Guardian phone. Here

It's bloody brilliant. Callers have to announce themselves and you have a choice of accepting the call, sending it to answer phone or completely ignoring it. Our cold calls have gone to 0. and we've managed to block some people who I never want to speak to

[TaliZorah]

QuietTiger thank you! These look brilliant

[DirectorFury]

BT offer a service that allows you to block phone calls from withheld numbers for an extra £5pcm. I ran the block for 2 months and then cancelled it and haven't had a single call since - I suspect because our number has now been taken off the list that they all seem to pass around!

[VulcanWoman]

I got rid of my landline in the end for this very reason.

[wasonthelist]

I am on TPS - got a call from a woman wanting to speak to the homeowner recently. If she wasn't in the UK, she had travelled from Lancashire. Clearly the deterents aren't working. Phone companies are dragging their heels because they make money from every call...

[timelytess]

Cold calling should be banned.
BT should be banned from calling customers 'to let you know of an offer'. 'No!' I protest 'I pay you extra so I don't get calls from people like you.' 'But we're BT!' 'I don't care, I don't want to hear from you!'

[x2boys]

We are ex directory we rarely get these calls anymore.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

Second recommendations for the BT guardian phones. We got ours in march and I have spoken to one cold caller since. One. It's bliss

[TaliZorah]

That would be wonderful. I had 3 more since starting this thread, its a bloody nightmare

[WhatALoadOfOldBollocks]

I'm ex-directory, on the TPS list, and I still get bloody PPI/new boiler/other such spam calls. I've had a few recently where the area code is a 5 digit number (eg 01266) but the rest is only 5 instead of 6. I wish there was a way to stop them. I'll have to check Plusnet and see, because there's no option on my phone.

[GinIsTheBestChristmasSpirit]

I'm on tps.
Always been ex directory.
NOT on the edited electoral roll (the version they sell)
Always tick don't contact me boxes

I think I get 3 calls a year and they are from my phone providers...

[GinIsTheBestChristmasSpirit]

I also never put my phone number on things. If forced I give a none number eg 01234 567123

[skinoncustard]

Yes to the BT Call Guardian phone . You don't have to be with BT to use it . ( we're aren't)
The best money I've ever spent. Zero nuisance calls now. Our record was stopping 8 calls in one day.
Subscribing to TPS does nothing! In the past I've asked callers why they are calling as I've joined TPS , the reaction has ranged from laughing to swearing at me .
I cannot recommend the phone enough.

[Madbengalmum]

Another vote for bt guardian phone, got mine from tesco and paid £20 in clubcard vouchers for two with an answerphone, bargain.
Since i installed it not a single cold call or annoying automated call and i was getting two to three a day?

[Madbengalmum]

To add, we were ex directory, tps and never gave out the number, or on edited electoral roll however, bt must have given us an old number for someone else, who was always getting calls, they werent even for us!

[OopsEEDaisyButtercup]

Play them along - cruel but fun! My DH loves to talk to the man from the PC repair company who doesn't get it when he says 'yes my Mac has been playing up again' or 'which PC is it - the white one or the black one?'

I also had a long chat when called years ago when ES was 3 yrs old. I fed him lines like "no, Mummy's not here"; "yes I'm by myself"; "I think she went shopping". I had to stop when I realised the caller was actually considering calling social services. I did feel guilty no I didn't

[nebulae]

Yet another vote for the BT Call Guardian phones here. We got our BT 8500 in September and haven't had a single cold call since.

[londonrach]

Be careful blocking those phone calls from with held numbers. I work for the nhs and all our phones numbers are withheld and we cant leave messages.

[nebulae]

You mentioned that on a similar thread a couple of weeks ago londonrach but I don't understand what you mean really. No calls are blocked, withheld numbers are not blocked, it just means that callers from withheld numbers need to announce who they are before the call is put through. We had a call last week from an NHS employee. And one from the DWP. It's not a problem.

[skinoncustard]

As long as the caller gives a name, then the call is announced and you decide whether you accept it or not.
If I am expecting to be phoned - a shop, tradesman, etc, I put their number on the allowed list for the duration of the job. ( then the call comes straight through as usual ) Something like a hospital clinic, I ask them to put a note on my records that I have a call service.
It's a great feeling being in control

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

We've got that BT phone. It also has an option in the menu of blocking the number. It can't do it for international or withheld numbers but it can block any other number. It's soooo satisfying to think of them furiously dialling our number only to get a disconnected tone every time they try.