Unwanted Phone Calls

I agree with all those who find these calls infuriating. We have registered with the TPS (twice) and have caller display. A friend recommended Googling numbers when there is one available, and if you do that you get several websites where people post if they've found out who some of these firms are. It doesn't necessarily help, although one person gave a head office number so that we can persecute them!

TPS has to be renewed every 2 or 3 years to be fairly effective Barrow

my landline phone is presently resting in the microwave! after the usual round of automated calls, at least this blocks their automated call system as i dont disconnect, just put the phone away for awhile. if anyone of my family need me they will phone my mobile. its the small victories that keep us happy.

I have found the Telephone Preference doesn't work after a while and to complain to TPS you have to have the telephone number when, of course, a lot of the callers withhold their number.

I now use the Information Commissioners Office (www.ico.gov.uk). You can still make a complaint even if you don't have a number. Since I have been registering complaints with them the calls do seem to have decreased.

Ive just had a call from 01252670222 - a recorded voice telling me that "It has come to the government's attention" that my energy supplier is not giving me the best prices, and to "Dial 2 now to hear what the best deal is on the market..."

I am sure this is the same number who have been telling me repeatedly that the government are concerned that I have not taken up their offer of an insulation grant - even though a young man who rang the doorbell on the same search for business assured me that there was no central list of those who had applied for a grant and those who had not. (This when I told him off for bothering me yet again )

After trying all of the above I simply put the phone down without comment as soon as it is obvious who is calling.

The TPS is good but seems to run out and you start to get lots more calls so need to register again.

The ones that annoy me are the ones from companies we already have contact with as that lets them off the TPS hook. I answered one recently which asked to speak to DH, I asked who was calling and he said the AA so I told him we didn't have anything with them and it was a sales call which we wouldn't take. He insisted DH had a 'policy' with them so I went and asked DH who confirmed he hadn't. I realised I had taken out an ISA for DH with the AA so told the guy there was no 'policy' and that he had misrepresented himself.

I do admit to winding them up when I am in the mood. A good one is "Oh I would love to talk to you but am really busy right now so give me your home phone number and I'll call you back when I'm free" They put the phone down.

One called and asked to speak to Mr H and I asked which Mr H and he gave me DH's name. He asked if he was in and I said 'no', did I know when he would be back, I said 'yes', would I tell him when that would be 'no' and so it went on with me answering in monosylables. Eventually he said 'don't be sarcastic' and I said 'I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being patronising'. Well, it was his own fault, he should have stopped when he knew he was on a loser.

Sometimes they just don't seem to listen and on one occassion I ended up saying 'is English not your first language' which appalled DH as I am not racist and he had assumed I was talking to an Indian. When I told him she was American he said I should have been really rude! He has always worked for American companies.

When Thank you. I dare say many of us will watch this.

There is a Panorama programme tonight about cold telephone calls made despite people being with Telephone Preference and having ex-directory numbers. A number of enforcement notices are about to be issued and there will be advice about what to do if you get such calls.

I used to get wound up by the calls, but now I thoroughly enjoy play acting. My favorite one is pretending to be an very old lady who is not very bright. I am VERY polite and keep thanking them over and over again, and agreeing with everything they say. I find it hard not to get the giggles......

We get all the calls as above, but the ones that probably annoy me the most are the ones I get every month or so from my bank, asking if I have 'a few moments to spare' to discuss my account.
All the household outgoings are taken from OH's bank account, mine has my part-time income paid in and is used for groceries and online shopping etc. I'm fed up of telling them I don't need any insurance, thank you, and no, there is no way you could 'save me money'!
When yet another young man phoned yesterday, I said that nothing had changed since the last call, and I really didn't see the point as they can see from my account what goes in and out.
He seemed to take that on board, but we shall see......

We have just had two calls in an hour, one to mobile of DH and another to house phone, I answered because display showed Withheld private number. Of course it was not a private number it was someone about PPIs, I told him I was with TPS and he kept saying " hello, are you there I can't hear" I could cheerfully throttle the nuisances.

Two nights ago we had a call from a young lady with a foreign accent asking for a Mrs Hunter and I told her she had the wrong number she then went on to ask for my name (not given ) and offered all sorts of advice to rid my PC of a very nasty virus !!! phone down sharpish must think I'm daft.

I just had one 2 minutes ago - listened to the start of their spiel and just put phone down on them.

Sometimes, I have a go .. but I think making an excuse to get a chair etc, and leave them hanging on for a while, is a good idea. I do answer overseas calls as I have family abroad, and never know where they are ringing from. Its really annoying when you rush downstairs or in from garden, then its just a sales call.

Having caller ID has helped enormously. When I see the 'International - number withheld' we just let it ring!

Ordinary 'Number withheld' can be a government dept or similar so we answer those.

As I've said before on here, I have Caller Display and it is wonderful. I never answer o800 calls or withheld numbers and I can see peoples' names and decide if I wish to speak to them!
My answer phone is always on, so if it is important the caller can leave a message.

Simples!

I've been with TPS for a few years now and although they may work for some calls I still get the usual calls from India and several from the UK. My biggest hate is the call about my computer having a virus, as I've said on here before I just tell them I don't have a computer. It hasn't stopped the calls though I still get at least one a week.

So there's no way round it? I tend to give my mobile number these days as I can see who is calling, but being innocent (gullible) assumed that there would be a genuine reason to give a phone number if ordering online, such as contacting me re delivery or availability. Duh!

Once a number is shown to be a valid one, with a live person to answer it, it is marked to be used again and added to the lists that circulate.

Often they don't even have our specific numbers, Their phones automatically call EVERY possible number, several at once. If it not a valid number, or if no-one answers within a set time, it just moves on to the next. That is why a call sometimes goes annoyingly dead just as you lift the receiver - the computer doing the dialling at the other end has decided that you are a dead loss and moved on to some other busy person.

If your phone system can put a ban on callers you don't want, you can block someone who has already rung you, or whose number you know, but if they are following a list it has probably been sold on and passed round the cold-calling industry. The next time the list is used it is a different caller - even if it is for the same company it will be a different number.

I worked as an 'independent' financial advisor to expats in Brussels for nine months and hated every minute. We had to cold call everybody with an English/American/Australian sounding name and go through a script. I was just too honest and often advised people to avoid investments and put their money in the best off-shore bank account they could find (I got no commission for this!)
Just once I rang a man who worked for the EC and he said 'I was waiting for someone to ring from your company -I have £25,000 I would like to invest for five years'. I went to see him and realised it really would be a good deal for him so we went ahead.
Only one man was rude to me - it turned out he had been telephoned by three other people from my company as we were not given any area/alphabetical demarcations.
It is the only job I have ever done where I woke up with a heavy weight in my stomach every morning.
I get the odd call in France even though I have signed up for the call-limiting service but I just say 'Je ne parle pas francais' in my best English accent and they give up.

They buy them from other companies. If you've ever had to give a phone number for an order you've made or even a general enquiry, it'll be on some firm's list!

How do these people get our numbers?
I have just had a very rude phone call for some company of lawyers (yeah, right) called CCI saying that they have my number from a website in the PUBLIC DOMAIN so there is no way I can stop them calling me re (spurious) accident claims. I know I should just hang up, but I gave in to the temptation to try to answer back and the caller (Katie) was really hostile. I know I should have hung up....... but being in grumpy mode today stupidly started to answer back.
But back to original question - how do they get our numbers?

NanaChuckles, I have just looked up this telephone preference on Google. The information is all there and instructions as to what to do. Good luck!( if you haven't already found it) . It really will make a difference.

Hunt, I have tried to be polite because by nature I am a very polite person. However, when you are in a lot of pain and the sheer effort to get to the phone totally exhausts you, and for the 3rd time that week you get the same company offering you the same service, it does get very exhausting and I am sorry but I do tend to be rude after the 2nd call. I have even been overly polite and asked to speak to their line manager so I can ask them to make sure I am taken off of their calling log. This only resulted in the caller hanging up on me. I am truly sorry that this is the only job available to your family. It must be soul destroying for them when they are capable of so much more. I know what it is like to be in a job that is not your calling.

I really don't know anyone who would actually purchase a service/product from a cold caller. I do feel sorry for people who need a job but they are a nuisance.