A phone call to action – no more nuisance sales calls
We’re all being plagued by unwanted sales calls and texts – even if we’re registered with the Telephone Preference Service. So why can’t it help those of us who are fed up with nuisance calls?
Every few years, a new wave of dubious money-making communications crashes over consumers. In the past decade or so, premium-rate phone and fax scams have receded.
The Nigerian email scam (‘I need to transfer money to a UK bank account, just give me some first’) has been superseded by phishing emails (‘I need to check your bank security details’). The letters congratulating us all on winning a Spanish lottery we never entered have mostly ebbed away. But there’s a new kid on the block – the unsolicited sales call.
This takes such forms as a call from a claims management firm offering to get you compensation for mis-sold payment protection insurance that you never bought. It’s not just calls, it’s texts as well and I’m sick of them.
Telephone Preference Service asleep on the job
Research this week by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has found that over three-quarters of people (78%) have been contacted by a Claims Management Company (CMC) asking if they had been involved in an accident or been mis-sold payment protection insurance. In London, the figure rose to 82%.
Even more amazingly, the ABI found that 92% of those who received such a message from a CMC said it was not relevant to them. So it’s hardly surprising three in four people back a ban on unsolicited messages.
There’s supposed to be a gatekeeper you can employ for free, the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), but it’s apparently asleep on the job. And it doesn’t cover texts, which makes no sense. The TPS describes itself like this:
‘This free service gives you the opportunity to select who contacts you by telephone. Once registration is complete, telemarketers are legally bound not to call you.’
So why are they calling me and many of you who’ve registered? I think most consumers would think the words ‘by telephone’ will include any and all means of communication received on their phone – mobile or landline, text or call.
Hung up on unsolicited sales calls
A Which? colleague whose phone number has long been registered with the TPS recently complained to it about a PPI compensation call.
The call handler said there had been a big influx of such complaints (no surprise) but it could do nothing as they’re not classed as sales calls, but ‘a service’. This is laughable. The ‘service’ is paid for by a fee taken from any compensation you get. How is this different from someone offering to fit double glazing, which will also incur a fee?
For texts, the law says there must be an unsubscribe option such as ‘Reply “stop” to this number’. But this tells the sender your mobile is genuine and we all fear we’ll just get more texts from them (and it might well cost you a pretty penny to text or ring them to send the stop message).
Together with a group of nine other organisations, ranging from Citizens Advice to Privacy International, this week we have written to the Direct Marketing Association (which administers the TPS), Ofcom and the Information Commissioner to ask them to wake up and do something about this huge problem.
And we’d like your experiences so we can send them on too – are you fed up with nuisance sales calls?
How does the Telephone Preference Service work for you?
It’s rubbish - I get lots of nuisance calls (76%, 3,204 Votes)
It’s OK - I only get the odd nuisance call (15%, 615 Votes)
I’m not registered with the Telephone Preference Service (8%, 339 Votes)
It’s excellent - I don’t get any nuisance calls (1%, 35 Votes)
Total Voters: 4,196
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Vince
Reading the comments on this it seems to be a problem everywhere and does not discriminate I think we need to take more drastic action by lobbying the government through your local MP what we need is a model letter and really fill the MPs Parliamentary post bag use every tool available to us but the only way to get something done is to fight. After all if you want to buy something from home improvements to house insurance most people are intelligent enough to know how to shop and I certainly wouldn’t use a company that phones me up.
Linda Hunt
Me neither!
Eddy
PPI, Energy, Energy efficiency, Windows, Cavity wall, Share investment all regular calls 3, 4 times a day even when registered against nuisance calls. The system clearly does not work and is more than a nuisance, i would call this harrassment. I specifically request that i be removed from their database but still the same organisations call on a regular basis. We need to find some way of calling them and block thier lines.
Silver Surfer
At least other commentators have spoken to their callers. Our complaint is of “dead calls” which we jump up from our afternoon nap to answer, only to hear the dialling tone. We have had three calls in one afternoon – more than once, five in a week.
We would happily have our landline disconnected and use our mobiles – but then we would have no broadband and couldn’t contribute to this discussion.
Silver Surfers
James Carey
I had a large number of cold calls and automated calls, I’ve since installed a trueCall unit http://www.truecall.co.uk/ and now I get none, all filtered out. It filtered out 31 calls from a single cold caller in 7 days, each time they received a message telling them not to call again.
I look at it this way, you wouldn’t use email without a spam filter now, so why is a telephone any different.
Something like trueCall should be a service that can be added to your line from companies such as BT or built into every phone.
David Spencer
Since we installed a trueCall device over 18 months ago it’s gone blissfully quiet. We only ever get calls now that we want or don’t mind receiving. As we never expect International calls we’ve blocked those completely – the caller is automatically told “not to call us again”. some of our friends use a ‘withheld’ number but we are able to give them a code to bypass the call screening. In the last week alone, the machine blocked 9 calls out of a total of 16 – magic
JL
David, your friends who use a withheld number can dial your number prefixed with 1470 and their number will be released. They can then be added to your whitelist and be put straight through by trueCall without having to dial a bypass code.
My own phone number is blocked at the exchange by BT but all the people we call regularly are stored in our phone prefixed with 1470 so that they can see who is calling them .
I have had a trueCall unit for 3 years and I would not be without it.
MR. A. J. STEPHEN
I have signed up to the t.p.s. but don’t know whether any calls are blocked. I still get calls from marketing companies, surveys, being a common way to get your contact details. They always start off by saying they are not going to sell you anything, house alarm fitting people are in the area, or double glazing, guttering and fascia boards, and porches is a favourite one or they lie about a follow up to a previous inquiry by you or your partner, a year or so ago, as if we are going to remember! The latest scam in Evesham, Worc’s. is your computer is contaminated with viruses and we need to rectify this. I’ve had 6 of these in the last month at least and when It was obvious by my replies that I wasn’t going to be taken in, I was given at least a minute of abusive language and threats mostly sexual about my wife. Of course I could have hung up, but although being a 70 year old pensioner, I had12 years when I was much younger in the Royal Navy and wasn’t by the language itself upset but just disgusted by the threatening sexual things said about and what he was going to do to my wife. I think I eventually hung up before him, but it was interesting to see how far they would go, verbally, when I wasn’t falling for their scam.
Ian Taylor
Having been bombarded with unsolicited phone calls, I registered a few years ago with the TPS. This only stopped ‘honourable’ organisations & individuals cold calling us. We continued to receive several cold calls a week from less honourable organisations to down right crooks. The latter normally lead with: your computer operating system has advised them of problems; conducting a survey; elligibility for refund; environmental products for your house; selling Sky box insurance; bargain company shares (normally from the US); a free cruise; etc. The caller number is normally Withheld or International, so you cannot get access to their telephone number. If their number does show up, it is generally a waste of time reporting this to the TPS as they also require the company name and address, which when asked for is normally false; when you explain to the TPS that BT must know who the number is registered to, you are advised that you have to provide this, so it’s all a waste of time. On the basis that the cold caller usually knows our name, I contacted BT a few days ago and went ex-directory (this was following a spate of cold calls). It has been quiet since then although I suspect this is a coincidence; however I would expect the problem to largely go away over time as organisations’ telephone number databases are replaced with versions without our number.
nickthebottlewasher
Sad to say we’ve been ex-directory for several years – it doesn’t help
If anything, the number of calls, especially from fictitious numbers, has increased. The odd thing is, in some cases the caller still knows our name. I still don’t see why fictitious and foreign numbers cannot be barred.
Paul
Have had some 18 calls during the last two weeks from Ins.Claims, House Insulation, PPI’s & many dubious callers asking for me by name. many seem to be from call centres in India, Pakistan, the Philippines etc. & many others from what appear to be offshore locations. I either just hang up, leave the phone line open (hoping they are incurring more costs) I have also played a recording of Del Boy which is definitely not PC, but they still come. I am considering going ex-directory but will have to investigate the downside to such a move.
nickthebottlewasher
Sorry to say, but, if you see my comment above, going ex-directory won’t make a ha’porth of difference
Chris Platon
Not sure whether it really works yet-it’s still early days, but you can forward spam texts to your service provider in the hope the sender will be barred. The O2 number is 7726. Six PPI offers forwarded since 8 June. I live in hope!
Elaine
I’ve been ex-directory, have Caller ID and registered with TPS for ages. In the last 2 months I started being bombarded with international and unavailable calls. At first I ignored them completely but after a particularly bad day answered one at 8.15pm and a “foreign” voice asked for me by name I took great exception to this and in no uncertain terms told him to go away. He promptly rang me back 4 times without leaving a message. Feeling very intimidated I reported it to BT and the police but nothing could be done as they originate from overseas and cannot be stopped or traced. BT recommended true Call. Although expensive I cannot recommend it enough for peace of mind, I don’t even hear the phone ring and they are politely told to go away without me even knowing.
However, I recently rang the AA to ask about driving lessons now I’m bombarded with calls from Acromas Group who are a marketing co for AA and BMS amongst others. Even though I have twice asked not to receive calls they still try, though they say they follow Ofcom guidelines. I won’t answer the calls and resent having to explain I don’t want to hear from them, isn’t that what the TPS is for! With my wonderful true Call machine I have now Zapped their number and as above they can no longer reach me.
I now wonder if it’s even in BT’s interest to stop these calls as they’re earning the revenue from it and are probably receiving a percentage of true Calls sales. Although happier why should I have to go to such lengths and extra expense to ensure that when I pick up the phone it’s a caller I want to hear from.
S. WATKINS
I am being bombarded with nuisance calls and texts. Their numbers vary but they say they are trying to contact ‘Rebecca Jenkins’. I’ve tried texting ‘STOP’; I’ve even replied to one phone call to what was clearly a non-UK based call centre, explained that I’m not this person and asked them to stop. They just say, ‘So, Rebecca….’ Is this just a call/money making scam? I’ve even taken to not answering my phone if it’s a number that’s not in my contacts. I feel utterly abused. Now I’ve started to get some very dodgy texts and it make me feel that my phone’s ‘dirty’.
I contacted the telephone preferences service on their web site, two weeks ago and I’ve heard nothing since.
What on earth can I do!
nickthebottlewasher
Texting ‘STOP’ makes things worse because they then know that it’s a ‘live’ number and pass it on to all and sundry. It pays to just ignore them – just as it pays the telephone providers not to ban them because they get money from every text sent.
Richard R
I am both registered with the TPS and also ex-directory. I still get the occasional silent call. However, there is an increasing problem with nuisance calls. I have discovered that such cold callers use computer generated random telephone numbers. Thus, even if you are ex-directory and registered with the TPS, the computer system numbers generated do not pickup either that the computer number is an ex-directory one, nor a number registered with the TPS. This is an flaw in the whole system and needs urgent addressing to resolve the problem.
Michael
It is helpful to have ‘caller ID’ and refuse to answer any calls which show ‘number witheld’ or ‘international’. This avoids most sales or nuisance calls.
Elaine
I agree, but it’s worth remembering that caller ID shows friends who are ex-directory and calls from drs, hospitals, police etc as being witheld. Withheld numbers ARE traceable.
pams
I’ve had TPS for years and thought it must have elapsed. PPI calls are the worst at the moment but I’m also getting a lot of calls in the day time when noone is there when I answer. I’ve often done a 1471 and got a varity of vocies telling me the number is withheld but I’ve often got a short, but not local, number.
Julia Heissig
I am being driven mad by all the calls I receive. We have recently been on 2 weeks holiday. On checking our message box on our return I was told it was full. There were 10 messages 2 of which were genuine, the rest were either silent or cold callers. I receive anything from 1-5 on a daily basis. The worst one starts saying they have been trying to contact me as they have an urgent message. It then says was I aware the government is giving away free loft insulation. The first time I heard this I immediately thought there was an emergency with one of my children or a member of my family. The last one of these was only a day or two ago.Others are for double glazing, carpet cleaners, mis-sold insurances etc., home improvements, phone companies offering special offers,being told we have won a holiday to name but a few. I also object to them calling on a Sunday which frequently happens. They are always at meal times or in the evening. We are registered with the TPS.
jpsa
I still get lots of calls: PPI claims, house insulation, “this call is in regard to problems with your Windows computer”, “this is a courtesy call to let you know we’re opening a store in your area” and fake opinion polls are all common.
Three things need to be done: tighten up the rules on what kinds of call are prohibited; give the TPS the authority to track call origins, even when these are withheld from me; and some means of dealing with international nuisance callers.
Unfortunately I cannot simply block anonymous calls, because calls from the doctor are anonymous.
Annie
We were receiving up to 10 calls a day from ‘International’ ‘Withheld’ and ‘Unavailable’ callers. I spoke to BT and advised them this was still happening even though I was registered with the TPS. They recommended speaking to True Call. I found out this company sold a monitoring machine that reportedly stopped all of the above mentioned calls. Initially I felt aggrieved that I would have to spend money to stop these calls, but we were receiving so many on a daily basis that I had to do something about. However, the £99 I spent on this machine has been the best £99 I have ever spent. My life is quiet now and I only receive calls from people who are on my starred list. I receive no more international or unavailable calls (hooray!) and if someone calls me who I don’t recognise or don’t want to hear from them again I just ‘zap’ them. It’s a great feeling and I feel that I am now in control of MY telephone calls. Highly recommend it (although it’s a pity BT didn’t offer the same service for free).
Geoff
We are harassed by these nuisance calls constantly. We have added a number display onto our BT contract so that we can see who is calling and the majority of them are number withheld and are from international numbers. My partner is a midwife and sometimes works nights, the calls are waking her up when she should be resting. The other problem is that she works for the NHS and they withold their number (which we do not answer) so when they need to get in touch with her they can’t. It needs sorting out.
dnew
My number is unlisted and I registered with tps some time ago. Not only do I still receive nuisance calls some of them are quite blase with them, freely giving there name and not concealing their number. I have reported both company with number to the tps who are just not interested.
Then again how is the tps funded, it is by the very companies that are not supposed to be calling.
I think this is the reason they are a complete waste of time, they should be wound up as in my opinion they are nothing but a con job.
anon
Since getting this new phone number 4 months ago, I’ve been getting two PPI calls a day from the same two companies. What really irritates me is that on numerous occasions I’ve waited out the message and pressed 9 to unsubscribe from the list as per their instructions, but it’s not made the slightest bit of difference.
Phil
It’s a shame that the only solution to this problem involves financial outlay but since connecting my TrueCall unit over 12 months ago i’ve not recieved a single nuisance call.
TPS is a complete waste of time as it serves no purpose whatsoever.
Peter Ellis
I was being pestered with up to ten calls a day, you name it & they were trying to sell it. Final straw was @ 10:30 p.m., went on computer & bought a True-Call unit. Since then Peace, perfect Peace. Well worth the money.
Rosalind
I too belong to the TPS and have been getting many calls regarding the phantom PPI I have never had and the fault on the computer I do not own. I did once decide in my wickedness to string along the caller in order to waste time so that she would bother and trap pne person less! These calls show international on the caller display and foreign calls are not controlled by the TPS. I have many relatives and friends abroad and therefore barring calls is not an option.
ANN
I have had two days without calls but they have started again. The first was from lady with a strong Indian accent re ppi etc. She said she was ringing from Sheffield so I asked her which county it was in and who were her local football teams. Not surprisingly she didn’t seem to know but at least I wasted a bit of her time. I shall certainly be watching Panorama this evening.
joArm
Although I have not been overly bothered by nuisance calls on my phones, one of my relatives, who is also registered with TPS has been pestered everyday at exactly the same time for over six months by an automated PPI compensation claims caller. It happens everyday around 5.30/6.00pm and not only that twice in that time span each day. The caller cannot be identified and they occur at a time of day the call cannot be left to answerphone aa it could be important. This very frustrating and annoying and I know that would be pleased if something could be done.
downy
I complained to BT about the excessive number of cold calls and “no one there” phone calls that I have been receiving lately, even though I am registered with the TPS. I was told that they could not help and it was suggested that I buy a True-call unit. I do not know if this will be really helpful and the cost is high enough that I do not feel it is worth a try just in case.
We get phone calls from my son in America which come in as international and some of the Doctors, Dentist type call have the number with-held. This makes it difficult to separate out the calls I want to receive.
Most of the annoying cold calls register as an international number and seem to come from Indian call centres. If I get one more call about my computer I will scream. I have started being incredibly rude to the callers and this always makes me feel even worse after I put the phone down.
It is a form of harassment but I am powerless to do something about it. Luckily my son lives with me or I would find the blank calls particularly worrisome.
Sil
It’s not just the TPS who let through the PPI as service calls. I used to pay an extra £10+ per quarter to the Post Office for my phone service so that they would block constant PPI nuisance and silent calls. They gave the same response as the TPS, so I’ve now cancelled this payment. There has been no worsening of the amount of calls, but I’m still geting them of course. I would like to buy the TrueCall devise someone has mentioned but on principle, I don’t see why I should – if they can do it, why can’t our actual “sevice providers”?
Mr C jones
The regulators are totally ineffective in clamping down on cold calls. Each complaint to then should automatically fine the company, people will not complain if they didnt have good reason too. I got so fed up of cold calls it made me ill I ended up getting a device called truecall. I still get cold calls but it stops them now. The latest companies are PPI insurance. I suspect many of these companies are using our information illegally. The TPS register is ineffective, some of these companies operate outside UK using fake numbers to trick the call display.
Mr C jones
Can I say since I got my truecall device and no I wont work for them its been 100% effective I have had mine over 2 years now. I can add friends on to list so bypass the device. Each other call gets interrogated by the device. I get asked by people what is it as they want one now
Alison
We are registered with TPS, but get perhaps 4-5 cold calls a week. I’ve taken 2 about PPI, plus a text, this week! What’s so infuriating is that you can get a recorded message (presumably it changes to a person if you proceed), so can’t tell the caller what you think about their interruption without taking up a lot of time when you’re busy.
Ian Sterry
Despite being registered with TPS we were getting around 7 calls a day. We emailed our MP and received some details on overseas calls.
The issue is that one needs the caller ID to complain and callers can withhold their number and in the case of overseas calls, the cheaper networks “lose” the caller ID.
In my view the solution is legislation to prohibit BT from accepting calls into the UK network with no ID (for which I assume the security services would agree), and to prohibit UK commercial users from witholding their ID.
Those organisations which need to withold ID for safety reasons(the womens refuge argument) are few and tend to be non-commercial.
Peter Heritage
On a recent count 50% of the calls coming into this house were attempted sales calls of which 30% were from overseas the rest being made of of firms using mainly 0834 numbers. Recently caller have been using “regular” regional phone numbers to try an get people to pick the phone up instead of witholding their number or using an 0800 number but in recent weeks tht has suddenly stopped.. I can monitor this because I have had a “Truecall” monitoring device for nearly 3 years which is very effective on controlling incoming calls and also allows me to monitor calls on my PC. I originally signed up to the telephone preference service but found that to be next to useless their rules do not apply to foreign call centres. To most people these are just an infernal nuisance but for the elderly and infirm they must cause a real problem.
Keith
I signed up to the TPS years ago and, initially, the number of nuisance calls dropped dramatically. Recently, however, we seemed to be getting more, especially those annoying ‘automatic’ calls where there is no human being on the other end. A few times when there has been someone on the other end and I have stated that my phone number is registered with TPS, I have been told that that has not shown up on their system. Companies also seem to be commisioning surveys to get around the ‘cold calling’ issue.
Frances Powis
What is really getting me is the arroganceof some callers who when you say you do not want to be called and if they had checked with the TPS they would have known they will retort you should be exdirectory as well.they are so arrogant.
I now say I cannot help them as I am only the Dog Sitter!!!
Norman Hunter
Does it really(?) depend on an earlier mailing? I had a cold call this morning from ‘New Energy Solutions’. When I said I was surprised to hear from them because I was registered with TPS I was told that I had been contacted because I had received information from them by post earlier in the year. (If I did I certainly did not respond.) I asked if this was permissable and the caller replied: “So I have been told”. So is this a new dodge for getting round the regulations?
Valerie
Although registered with TPS – I checked a month ago as the calls continued. They confirmed I was. I receive about 2 or 3 cold calls a week. It used to be more. Yesterday someone purported to ring about my computer. When I asked them for the address and phone no of the “company” they ignored this and kept repeating themselves. No doubt they were after details. All I do now say is “Hold on I will get the householder” and leave them holding on. Unfortunately many people, suffice to say the elderly in particular are too gullible and trusting and need to be more ‘streetwise”. What I find worrying too is the no. of e mails being received from people I have never contacted who know my first name. I am sure there are legitimate companies out there who sell the information. Thank you.
Pigsly
What about those really annoying calls leaving recorded messages? So frustrating as you can’t tell them to go away and never call again.
Tony
I’m sure that we are going to see some fines from the ICO in the coming months. They have only had these powers since the end of January and as with all ‘criminal’ proceedings, you have to be spot on with your evidence. I think the big battle ground is going to be over whether the callers have permission or not. Many companies you sign up to, or buy goods from, ask you if they can send you details of new services or products, but it is those that add something like ‘and selected partners’ to the permission you are giving, that you need to watch out for. I would like to see some law or regulation that requires all terms like this require a) an opt in, not an opt out, and b) explicitly name all parties that you are going to give permision to.
richard
Interesting – Used to have frequent cold calls when with BT and TPS – Changed to Virgin – cold calls plummeted – Still a few C C – Now use answer-phone – I really can’t recall the last cold call I received (possibly over one year) – My friends have no problems with the system – and still get the odd wrong number which are genuine. I do remember how frustrating it was to – break off everything – rush to the phone – and find it was a cold call. The answer phone is absolutely free – and – very very very effective,
Peter
We registered with TPS several years ago hoping to stop nuisance calls, but they have continued to increase causing me to re-register twice since, thinking that I had dropped out of the system, only to be told that I had already registered. So it isn’t working.
A year ago, I was cold-called by another company who claimed to stop/reduce the number of nuisance calls for a £3 monthly fee. With no reduction in the number of calls, I started to list the unwanted ones and realised it was time, after four months, to cancel the arrangement. With hindsight I think I should add this to the list of nuisance calls.
As others have reported, I was receiving four or five a day, often at meal times – International, PPI Claims, industrial accident claims, surveys, “your computer is at risk”, silent calls, etc. Occasionally, when I have told callers that I have registered with TPS, a few are very apologetic and promise to remove my number from their list, but others immediately put the phone down.
Last month I installed a trueCall unit to take care of the problem, and it did!
In the last three weeks it has intercepted about 70 unwanted calls, but allowed my ‘star list’ callers through. From the calls log I can see who has been rejected, including a few persistent ones who still keep calling and are still being rejected. Occasionally the phone may just ring once then stop, giving us the satisfaction of knowing that we have been spared yet another time-waster.
Silence is Golden with trueCall !