I have been driven mad this week by constant sales phone calls. I registered our number with the TPS & re-register it every year, but it's had very little effect, many of the companies are based abroad so they happily ignore the rules. The UK companies sometimes get round this by asking if you will answer 'a few short questions'. They then use the excuse that as you have answered their questions they are allowed to phone you.
One of the biggest problems has been a call that only rings 3 or 4 times, probably an automated polling system, these calls come through throughout the night as well as the day time. As my MIL has cancer we find calls in the middle of the night very disturbing. We need to answer the calls in case there is an emergency. I've dialled 1471 & taken down the number that is calling us but when I try to call them I get a recorded message telling me I am dialling a number that is no longer in service.
Yesterday I ordered a phone with caller ID & I've signed up for caller ID with BT, it's free as we pay BT line rental. The phone arrived a couple of hours ago & I've added all our numbers into it's directory.
I've also bought something called a Call Saint, this can be programmed to automatically refuse calls from certain numbers, I haven't set this up yet. Peering at the small print in the instruction booklet for the phone was enough to make me go cross eyed, I'll leave it a couple of hours & then set the call saint up. Hopefully then we will get some peace.
5 comments:
You may need to check that caller id is free. I'm with BT as well and I get charged £1.75 per month for it. Sorry about that.
Hi, according to their website it's free for the 1st year & should continue to be free as long as we pay for line rental, I will be kicking of if they charge me, though in actual fact I would pay £1.75 for some peace
I was just going to say what the other readers have said, I joined caller ID with BT. It was only free for the first year and now we pay. But it is worth it, if the number is overseas we don't answer it, except No.2 son does when he is bored and the callers, usually from India, hang up on HIM! Good luck!! X
Gosh I get about 3 of these a day too. Mostly I just ignore them but occasionally I pick up and there is that split second pause before someone starts talking and you can tell it has been dialled by a computer. I don't get them during the night (thank God) but regularly throughout the day. Pain in the backside is the politest expression I can think of. I used to regularly get one asking if I would answer a few questions - how old is your car, where do you shop and "how old is your sofa". Then they would "check" to see if I had won a prize (I always had) and I had to go visit a furniture store to participate in the prize draw. Once I figured out that my winning a prize depended on how old my sofa was and therefore how likely I would be to visit a furniture store soon, I started saying my sofa was 2 months old, and the calls stopped. Good grief! I do feel for you. Anna
Any sales related calls that I had were always answered with a version of, "Ooh yes, I am very interested. Does it matter that I am bankrupt". After a few days the calls dried up and i can not remember how long it is since the last call.
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