Diallers/Cold Calling/Recorded Messages..... LEAVE ME ALONE!

[Toothache]

For months now we have been plagued with phonecalls from:

Diallers (Call Centre system which just runs through combinations of numbers phoning people). If you don't pick these up in time you just get silence then cut-off! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
If you pick up in time it's always a Cold Call from some sort of marketing company or Future Homes Magazine offering me £1000 toward a kitchen. Honestly, I am offered £1000 toward a new kitchen every week at least once!! I tell the people to scrub me off of their database as I'm not interested.... but the same phone call comes next week.

Then there is the new trend of pre-recorded messages telling you you've won a fantastic prize and to phone back to claim.... obviously it's £1.50 per min number.

I've even had a phone call twice in the past week where the message has just said "Please wait a moment".... then it cuts out!

What it THAT all about??? Are we the only ones plagued like this?

Help! It's driving us mental.... we got one at 9pm one Sunday night!

I keep getting them too, especially the pre-recorded ones with a so called great prize.

Also had a few where i've answered and they've hung up.

Do you know about the Telephone Preference Service ? In the UK, you can register your telephone for no cold calls and they get a heavy fine if they ignore the don't call list.

I just wish they had one for door-to-door salesmen

Meant to say, you can register landlines and mobile phones.

Toothache, have you registered with the Telephone Preference Service ?

It really works!

Really annoying eh Nutty??

GeorginaA - Fantastic!!!

snap, GA!

(Think it was you who put me on to it in the first place!)

LOL probably - I'm pretty evangelical about them ... their mail preference service is good too for paper junk mail. I registered in the name of all the ex-residents of this house and it's almost completely eradicated rubbish that isn't even meant for me!

Wahey!! Just registered!! How easy was that??

Thanks folks.

Sorry to but in - what mail preference service georgina??

toothache: it'll take about a month for the info to filter through to the cold callers so be prepared for having to cut them off with a cold "I'm registered with the TPS" a few times until then!

Nimme: Mail Preference Service

Yup - we get these, AND we've registered with the TPS. DP registered us about 6 weeks ago, but we're still getting calls. Got one last night with the "Please wait" then "You have won a prize" recorded message. Ran in from the garden to take the call as well. Bah.

Anyone know what you can do about reporting organisations that ignore the TPS registration?

I have had a look at their website and found the following, I have not considered this possibility but if I had just lost a baby I would surely use this information. Sad but may be helpful.
Baby MPS Online

The Baby Mailing Preference Service is here to help reduce the number of baby-related mailings you receive.

Many parents to be are happy to hear from companies who can help them at this exciting time in their lives but in the sad circumstances of the death of a baby, mailings to parents about baby products from well meaning companies can cause unintended hurt.

That's why the Mailing Preference Service provides Baby MPS - a free service that is both sympathetic and effective.

Pidge, there is a complaints form on the TPS site - but a lot of them withhold their number, don't they, so you might struggle to identify the offenders.

We registered ages ago and don't get anything now.

Toothache, you can register with the Telephone Preference Service here
and then organisations who cold call are forced to take you off their lists.
It may take a few months to 'filter through' but sounds like it could be worth it for you.
There is also an equivalent for direct/junk mail too.

Oh sorry! STarted qwriting this reply, then went to lunch, and now everyone got there before me!

I get this stuff too. I've won 2 holidays and a "great prize" in the last week. But thanks wise ones for those links - I am now registered and hope to see the back of this c**p very soon!

Never get calls - but when we got our phone book the other month we weren't in it - we seem to have gone ex-d without asking!

have registered for the junk mail thing though, thanks for that.

we are with TPS and cold calling seems to have stopped. however, we are still getting pre-recorded messsages saying we've one something etc and judjing by their accents mustt be from abroad (usa, canada or south africa that sort of thing) and would really want these to stop. how we would go about it??
also, if we go ex-directory, can we keep our existing phone no or will we get a new one?

Another vote for TPS. I have had no calls like this for years, after a long period in which they drove me crazy.

I registered a complaint with the TPS after receiving a cold call (several months after registering). I managed to get the name of the company before they just hung up on me when they realised they weren't going to get anywhere. I got a letter back from TPS confirming receipt of my complaint and confirming that they were taking action.

If you get the pre-recorded messages, make a note of the number you have to call and register a complaint with TPS with that detail.