To have lost my temper

I am at a loss as to how we prevent these calls. One day last week we had 7 cold calls before lunchtime, the answer machine was switched on and they started ringing my mobile despite the fact that I never give my number to anyone. DH did get in touch with BT and told them they were failing in their duty to prevent nuisance calls, reaction, zilch

I monitor all my calls now, unless I know who they are they go to voicemail and I can hear what is being said. We are getting so many nuisance/selling calls nowadays that they outnumber the wanted calls! What's worse is that there are two different numbers that come from the same source - both trying to sell me cavity insulation and solar panels, one from a UK number and one an international number. They have identical recorded messages that just get deleted...you'd think they'd take the hint!

We get them nearly every day, Galen. So now I say:
'Allo
'Allo oui, c'est qui? (In very irate shrieky French).
They ask if I speak English.
I say "non je ne comprends pas l'anglais" or "je dois ouvrir les fenêtres de mon ordinateur?" (Both if which would be hard to do if I didn't understand English but the irony is lost).
They give up and hang up without saying goodbye. Sadly they don't tell their friends.

Obviously when the calls are from French companies I can only speak English.

I just quietly put the phone down - it saves the expenditure of emotional energy which is required elsewhere! And I feel very sorry for those who have to earn their living/waste their lives on this thankless task - and their calls are all monitored so they cannot lose their rag, however much they might feel like doing so!

There is a product you can buy - I have unhelpfully forgotten its name - which filters out calls from all but those you have OK'd. I believe this is it: www.truecall.co.uk

You need a call blocker. You can set those calls you don't want such as international calls. They come preprogrammed with about 200 known cold call numbers. It's worked for us. It's very easy to add other numbers also.
If it's something important they can always write to you.

I know I'm tempting providence here, but I never get any unwanted calls. I don't know why. I am registered with the preference service and get my phone line via my cable company. The only other thing maybe that my number was once a fax number - to begin with I used to get a few fax calls, but these have now stopped. So I wonder if it makes a difference if you are with a cable company?

I laugh and tell them to take their scam elsewhere. Sometime not very politely! X

Someone cold-called me yesterday to tell me something or other about pensions. I was happy to inform her that I was already a pensioner.

In fairness, I don't think there's anything BT can do. They used to block commercial calls but now these things are "outsourced" (I believe that's the jargon), there's nothing BT can do to stop them unless you find out the name of the company behind the calls. Good luck with that .

Meanwhile, when I occasionally pick up the phone from and "out of area" caller or a "private number", I say nothing until the person on the other end of the line speaks. As often as not the line goes dead because it is just a machine doing the dialling and until they hear a human voice the call is not switched to a person. I wonder if you could do this with your work caller, galen? If you warned them that you won't speak until they do (and you recognise them) it ought to work. Worth a try anyhow.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAb8vGSRBoE

I like the way this guy deals with telesales people. I would love to do this!

treat yourself to a call blocker galen. My MIL is able to snooze away her afternoons undisturbed since she got her Truecall.

It drives me mad, not even TPS can cope with it. Also, did you know you have to ring them every so often to make sure they keep you on their list? I must do it again, maybe that's why I am getting so many more lately.

I don't answer the phone unless I know the number, I have call recognition. If people want me, they have to leave a message. Many automated callers seem to try mid morning, again at around 4pm, again in the evening. In other words, when you are likely to want breaks. Even the banks do it, Barclays is dreadful.

I'm tps. I have call blocking. I block international but unfortunately Cardiff, who allocate the tribunal work also have number unavailable and I would be blocking them as well.

That's the problem, my son couldn't set up his Skype to have a recognisable number show up on our phone when he rings, it comes through as number withheld even though he paid for a proper number, so I occasionally answer the phone and then could scream. I just put the phone down, but once it happens, they keep on trying for at least a week.

Could you not give the important work people your mobile number galen?

I don't always have it on. And if it is on I don't always hear it. If they don't get an instant reply they try someone else.

We do the same as Mollie and let everything go to answerphone. Family calls are easy to identify as each one has a little tune as a ringtone. I snatch the phone up quickly if I recognize the voice before they ring off.

Galen Truecall would work for you, it would not stop you getting your work calls. If you go onto their website their is a good demo.

The chap that devised it took it to Dragons Den, and all the Dragons wanted in!

We are registered with the TPS but this only works for UK companies that use it. If I get a UK cold call. I usually say 'This call is illegal and you can be prosecuted and fined £10,000 for every such call you make (no idea whether that is true!), but they ring off pdq.

International ones we either do not answer, but if I do - and they ask for Mr FB. I sound subdued and say 'He is dead' and if they ask sympathetically when I say, 'This morning'. They too ring off pdq. I am hoping that if I do this often enough he will get taken off the Boiler room phone list. He has been on it for years and has never been even tempted to buy, or even stay on the phone long enough to find out what they are duff shares they are selling.

You can complain to the Information Commissioners Office (www.ico.gov.uk). Unlike TPS you don't need the name of the company or a telephone number.

Unfortunately they have no control over cold calls from international numbers. DH had the letter from the Financial Regulator informing him that his name and telephone number had been found on a list used by boiler room fraudsters and warning against them, but by then he had been receiving the calls for about 10 years and as we are neither gullible nor greedy he had never been tempted to let them get past the briefest of intro remarks before he put the phone down on them.

There was recently a very big multi-country police action that took out the majority of these operations and we have been call free for the last few months. Lets hope it stays that way.

We are registered with the telephone preference service, but it does not block calls. If you tell them you are registered they do put the phone down pdq, but it does not stop the nuisance. DB only answers those numbers that he recognises from the display on his phone. I have not programmed mine in yet (only had it for 2 years).

We rely on the answerphone. A lot of the automated phone calls recognise that they've connected with an answer phone and just stop after a couple of rings.