Nuisance phone calls

I don't think you can stop them entirely Ginster -I'm registered with TPS (Telephone Preference Service) which may stop many but not all of them. The nuisance calls ring back on a slightly different number.
A call stopper device from Argos also helps but nothing is 100% effective and now and again BT advertise a phone which is meant to stop many of them.

We are registered with TPS and we get lots of these calls, they come from abroad and they change the number each time call.
We now leave the answer machine on permanently, if noone speaks after the message then we know it is a nuisance call.

We have a BT phone that we purchased from Johns Lewis.

Just plugged it in.

Every person phoning has to announce who they are and you then have the choice of
Accepting the call
Recording the call
Or blocking it and all future calls from that number.

So they never get to speak to you unless you so wish.

There are lots of facilities on it and after you have accepted calls from a family member for a while they are put through automatically.

In practice you will find that nuisance callers simply don’t bother and put the phone down when they are requested to introduce themselves so you are never aware of the call.

It cost about £50, but that was ages ago

Oh and we don’t have a BT line.

I had 4 of them yesterday morning, in succession each with different numbers. The main culprit being India after I'd traced the whereabouts from the code.

This is only going to work on each new number that calls (and the clever scammers use a range of numbers)
But the 1572 service is free, and it blacklists the number last dialled.
So when we get a scam Amazon call for example, we cut off the line and then dial 1572 and press the button to “blacklist last number dialled”.
It has greatly reduced the nuisance calls we get.

It won’t solve your nuisance calls EV ?

We do have a BT phone line.

I use the 1572 facility as well, and it has certainly reduced the number of calls we get. The remaining nuisance calls which get through are usually pretty easy to identify, often from the unmistakeable call-centre background noises and someone with a strong South Asian accent introducing themselves as 'William' or 'Christopher' or 'Miriam'. I either put the phone down straightaway, or (if I have time to kill) amuse myself by adopting the persona of an ingenuous individual, who is concerned about the computer error/imminence of being cut off etc that they are warning me about - and eager to accept their offer of help. On occasions, I have managed to keep them talking for up to 20 minutes, as I 'get myself upstairs to the computer'; 'switch on the computer'; 'find the password which my carer changed the other day'; 'pop downstairs to answer the door' and so on - all from the comfort of my armchair or wherever - before denouncing them. If I don't have the time for that performance, I may go straight into the "What would your mother think if she knew you were trying to cheat innocent people?" mode. Great fun to be had at these criminals' expense. It probably does not get my number put on their own blacklist, but it certainly amuses me..

The thing I hate about these calls is the unsocial hours they ring at! I don’t speak to them, I just cut them off but I have still been disturbed. I can’t turn the ringer off as it may be an important call.

We were advised not to speak at all after picking up so that the recorded message machinery doesn't start. It'll cut off itself without playing. We then add the number to blocked numbers. Seems to help.

When I received the second call in a week from the same lady in a company purporting to be interested in a recent accident I had had, for the first time, instead of slamming the phone down, I told her in no uncertain terms my opinion of her company and their activities. When I paused for breath she took the opportunity to ask me in that case whether any member of my family had had an accident. I give up.