unsolicited phone calls

Any of you folks have experiences to share or knowledge in dealing with unsolicited telemarketing phone calls here in the UK?

Up until now, I've never had any problems at all to do with nuisance or unsolicited phone calls, but over the past few weeks I've starting having double glazing, replacement kitchen, money loaning and market research companies calling me up out of the blue. Only one of the callers actually asked for me by name, the others just asked to speak to the main householder. It was therefore reasonably obvious that they hadn't obtained my details from any 3rd party sources that I'd previously provided my details to. I'm usually very careful when filling in forms to tick the relevant box to state that I don't want to be put on mailing lists or have my details submitted to 3rd parties for marketing purposes; I'm also ex-directory and have opted out of having my details available on the public version of the electoral register.

Before hanging up on these callers I've asked at least 2 of them to tell me how they got hold of my number in the first place, and in both cases was told that the numbers they call are generated completely at random. So, now that telemarketing companies are having a harder time obtaining lists of real numbers they can call, they get a computer system to randomly generate some out of thin air. Surely this kind of practice must be illegal?

 

You can register on TPS
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

I did this a couple of years ago and the number of such calls went down from 3 or 4 a day to 1 a month or less.

There is a supposed to be a mechanism for reporting companies that phone you, but not sure how it works. As I understand it, telemarketing companies are obliged NOT to call people on TPS and should get into trouble if they do.

 

I'm on teh TPS and if I get an unsolicited call now (rare) I tell them up front that my time is £25 a minute and I'd like a billing address. Usually cures 'em.

 

I am ex-directory, not on the edited electoral roll AND I'm on TPS.

I've had two telemarketing calls in the year-and-a-bit since I moved here. Both were random-number generations, one from the labour party and one from a gym.

Alanbeeb is right:

If you register on TPS then any telemarketing calls you receive are illegal. Unfortunately the loophole to this is "surveys" which aren't direct marketing and that's how the canvassing calls are allowed.

 

I am a Night shift worker, but also have to be on call during the day .
I noticed that my telesales calls recently made a sudden increase too. You need to contact BT as there are several things you can do including registering for the TPS and also blocking your calls to withheld numbers.

We have an Engineeering 'Hotline' at work. Basically our work centre isn't manned for the full 24/7 so if the flight crew get a Tech problem on one of the Aircraft they can call it and get access to an Engineer on mobile ( via call divert) . Deep joy when I'd been in bed for an hour or two after a hectic night shift and some bastard wakes me up to try and sell me a kitchen. Surprisingly though I'm usually never rude. Its quite funny when I demand their name , company and phones numebr as they have accessed a private Airport 'security Hotline' number and i'll need to report the matter to Airport security and the police

Our company has now registered the hotline for the TPS and I'm pretty sure that if a company contacts this number knowing that it is registered to TPS they can be due a hefty fine ( iirc ).

I can appreciate that people need to earn a living and that it is better to do this type of job than be on benefits, however invading my privacy and waking me up in the middle of 'my' night (ie normal office hours) really ****es me off....

 

My phone is VOIP and I am not sure if the same laws apply.

Anyway I had a call the other day saying they were from such a such and bla bla bla, I asked them to remove my number from the database to which they said they were using the yellow pages, I pointed out that is ilegal and I would report them if they phoned again.

Since then I have had no telemarketing calls.

At one point it got to the stage where I had more cold sales calls than customer calls.

Pretty much all the calls I recieve are for bogus advertising schemes, franchises and accountants.

Some times you politely tell them you are not interested and they apologise, other times they start getting shirty and that is when I usualy start with the threats.

 

Thanks for the tip on TPS guys, have just registered.

Interesting point about the loophole re surveys as convassing not marketing. One of the calls I received earlier today was a consumer survey thing which I didn't have time to stay on the phone and do anyway as I asked the person on the other end how long it'd take and he said between 10 and 15 minutes, no thanks I said.

I must just stop answering calls which come up as number witheld on the caller display. I only have one person who calls me on a regular basis whose number comes up as "Private" on the caller display and could just as well ask him to prefix my number with 147 to reveal it when he phones me. I do also receive calls from abroad from family occasionally which the caller display displays as either "out of area" or "unavailable", as opposed to "Private" as it does for witheld UK numbers. Wonder if I could get my phone provider (Telewest) to bar all incoming calls except for calls from abroad and numbers which aren't witheld.

 

Not sure about telewest but on NTL (cable&wireless) i can type in *227# to activate annonymous number call barring and #227# to de-activate it...needless to say i don`t get any advertising calls.
**NB** This service barrs any calls from anonymous number but also barrs calls directed through a switchboard.

 

I understood that the commercially available Phone data base that these companies use include all ex-directory numbers.
I just use foul and abusive language as soon as these unwelcome offensive intruders on my privacy start speaking.
Another strategy if you can discipline yourself is to go to get a pencil then don't return to an open line and wait for them to hang up.

 

Those calls crack me up.

I used to do calls as one of my first jobs heading into a sales career. The scripts and method they use are planned perfectly to deal with the standard objections. What I do is come up with some strange ones but be really interested so they don't hang up. Trying to buy a ford fiesta from a safestyle windows telewench kept me chucking for hours.

Try it. Act stupidish, and ask strange but semi relevant questions. e.g. for plastic windows ask if they are waterproof. then act them if painted if they are still waterproof. mention some article you read about it and throw in made up details. then ask them to check with their supervisor, the poor sucker probably will! Ask if this brand of windows are compatible with curatins, then mention the article you read then ask them to check with supervisor.

Can a few people try this and provide feedback.

 

A mate of mine uses the line 'It's not really convenient to talk now. Give me your home number and I'll call you back'. The response is usually 'We're not allowed to give out our home numbers' at which point he ends the call.

 

I simply say, 'Thanks, but I'm not interested' and hang up. There's no need to be polite to people who are cold-calling you.

 

I think there is a need to be polite to everybody - but I don't think that saying you're not interested and thanks v much but no - and then ending the call is rude.

I have to cold call in my job, and when people are GENUINELY rude - I am genuinely rude back!

For example - if someone swears at me and puts the phone down, I call them back and do the same.

Why should I, or anybody else accept it?

Luckily I am self employed, so I can do what I want

 

It's a tricky one, this. I'm always polite to cold callers, keeping it snappy but without being brusque. But I can easily understand someone getting a call from a stranger at an inconvenient moment being rude and slamming the phone down. I suppose the point at issue is, what gives you the right to ring someone up out of the blue?

 

Well, in my case I call companies rather than peoples houses.

There is a difference, but when you're dealing with people they can be rude and obnoxious in any environment when the mood strikes them!

In terms of peoples houses, I guess each and everyone of us gives companies the right by putting a telephone number in the public domain. When we go ex-directory and do the TPS then that is a little different.

I'd emphasize there is a difference between being polite yet curt, and downright rude..

 

Ah well, companies are different. There's no reason for an employee of a company to be rude to a caller.

My wife had to cold call when she was temping at a recruitment agency a few years back. Under no circumstances was she allowed to be rude to the people she was calling, but if anyone who she called was rude to her, they got a 'nutter - avoid' comment against their name and thus missed out on any jobs that were going.

 

The problem is how do you know the company is not based in a house?

Especialy when you're running a small company like man that currently recieves less than one business call a day when these cold callers phone it really annoys me because you're rushing to the phone just to find out it is some twit selling yet another bogus police calander.

 

I'd just set the answerphone to kick in after a couple of rings. If it's a cold caller, let him/her ramble on, if a genuine customer, grab the phone.

 

irrelevant IMO.

If you choose to advertise the number so that it becomes part of the public domain ... yellow pages, the internet, leaflets, flyers etc..

then you can't complain when the calls come in!

 

The point it those calls should be genuine callers not people trying to con me or sell me some double glazing for the none existing shop front.

Anyway since telling the last caller to poitely f**k off the cold callers have stoped . I have also signed up for the tps.