Taking nuisance calls campaign to Scottish Parliament

Never mind whether or not the number is withheld. Just ban all marketing calls. My phone. I pay for it. It is there for communication between me and my friends and companies with whom I have dealings, Not for some random person calling me to sell something which I do not want.
Myu attitude to these companies is, “If I want to buy from you, I will contact you.”

Correct, Ray! But why not target BT? I refuse to believe that they cannot identify these pests and bar them. Could it be because BT – whose “assistance” is limited to offering to sell me a phone which MIGHT bar them – make money from them?
Tom R.

Tom have you heard of _unbundling ? Brought in by the Government Telecommunications Act allowing – Tom-Dick -Harry- telecommunications companies to fit their OWN equipment in BT exchanges and use BT lines for there OWN customers benefit in high profit towns and cities to cream off the top money . These companies have FULL control over their own customers telephone and broadband use REMOTELY , so do all those other companies get away with it and not BT ? .That would contravene many HMG telecommunications acts that were brought out to create a level playing field. It would also upset all the consumers who DONT use BT as a service .

Ray’s comment is bang on ALL marketing calls should be illegal
Wesley Paxton Annan

Hi malcolm r, I agree this is a national/UK/International problem from the point of view of from where the calls originate. But I would suggest that the problem is about money, as usual. Phone numbers given to companies for a specific purpose are being used for other purposes. The worst offending companies are those who sell on the phone numbers to others, stop this and the problem would end. If it does not end the problem there would be a clear audit trail of “follow the money”.

sandra b : I am so fed up with automated calls, getting these about four times in a week my elderly father
(who is a carer for my seriously ill mother) gets the same amount of calls. I called B.T about this and they are as useful as a chocolate t-pot. They recommended a caller display phone okay easy answer to that one to endorse their product but what if the company is changing there number in order so they can be traced. I was told by nuicance department some cold calls come from Europe and you have to register with a government agency if it doesn’t stop and I did this and it becomes a vicious circle- you fine one in uk, another pops up. Make it illegal to cold call fine b.t if they pass on your phone number to these companies because when I was on a contract with mobile phone company they sold my number on to ppi calls; they denied it
but it was too much of a coincedence the ppi calls came not long after I had got the contract. Someone is making a profit out of this racket.

I think he just rang but it clicked off before I could get to the phone.

A lot of what the campaign aims to do can be done without legislation – in fact local councils could do some of it if they had a mind to.

John do you mean warn people about methods like call-blockers etc ? What Telephone exchange equipment has councils or the Scottish government got control of ? And by that I mean -BT,s exchange equipment ,Virgins exchange equipment , and a whole list of others that the UK Telephone Act has UNBUNDLED allowing ,uncle Tom Cobbly and all to INSTALL their own Private equipment in BT,s exchanges . That they -the private companies – can come into the said exchanges and work on them . That they and BT control from computer keyboards to program what they want into the same equipment just the same as our own Government “services ” can limit/control/turn off /reprogram /etc any UK citizens equipment . Block outgoing calls /incoming /long distance /etc very easily as we are dealing with fully digital electronic exchanges that are controlled remotely . What access has local councils to that ?

It’s a pity that the lead-in article didn’t cross-reference the previous Conversation on this topic with particular relevance to Scotland. As a reminder, the three things that Eva Groeneveld said the campaign should focus on were –

1. Cracking down on businesses breaking the rules and holding senior executives to account.
2. Helping vulnerable people to cut the number of nuisance calls they receive.
3. Ensuring that new Scottish Government policy doesn’t lead to more nuisance calls.

None of those objectives requires any adaptation of Scottish telephone exchanges or apparatus.

None of these actions would compromise the reserved status of telecommunications to the UK parliament nor breach any Telecommunications Acts.

I cannot understand why so many obstacles are being invented to obstruct this fairly innocuous campaign that might actually be a path-finder for action across the UK.

In other words treat the symptoms but but not the disease which is rampart capitalism at its ugliest. What I want is Westminster Legislation as I have previously posted the “home of Capitalism ” the US of A has brought in government legislation to heavily fine those making US consumer / citizen lives a misery even Canada has followed the US lead . To me it shows the level of respect they hold UK citizen in == third class . I know they can technically do something about those calls but its – its the consumers fault , time and time again why is it never BB ?

Why should the customer have to purchase a product and or service to stop others phoning their number…………..Its their phone,,,,,its their number………….Phone were once a means to call a business,,,a private call to Mum……….Is my car ready etc……………Gone are the days,,,,,,,,,,,,now we pay to be hassled

Most phones are “public” in the sense that your number is in an available list. That lets me, if I want to, ring you up even if you don’t know me. It isn’t necessarily a nuisance call. How do we filter out those calls that are “commercially nuisance”. Presumably only by the authorities identifying them as such and, as this convo is about, trying to stop them by legal means.

Incidentally, do mobile phone users suffer this hassle as well as land line users?

Exactly the same problem on mobiles with exactly the same pat answer from the mobile companies -ie- TPS and all the rest that dont work as 1000,s of users have already complained about . Whats going on here ? a “holding action ” .Have you checked the number of irate posters on this subject on various Convo,s on this website ?? 100,s they want more than words they want direct action .

Our Landline and wifeys mobile are tormented…………..My mobile is not a problem as yet…………….Probably because I dont do FB,,,Twitter,on line this that and dear knows what etc which I blame for harvesting numbers also…………
I do use Amazon but only occasionally as I’m not altogether content with their ethics
Fleabay and others also with no problems…………….I buy near every day if the truth be told so I should be a target but the on line shops and the fleabay sellers seem to be better than some

What was wrong with having an ex directory number………….a good old fashioned idea that I Yes I own my phone…………..I pay for it………I choose who has the number and there are not 1000s of systems trying to steal my number
To me it is as simple as that……….I look upon this harvesting as stealing
Even if one gets ones number changed the slightest mistake and its started again in a few weeks
The search companies get a premium for first past the post on a change of address and new number for someone…………..
Ex directory,,,,,,,,,,,withholding your number are all but pointless as methods of retaining your privacy…………I never did withhold my number and never will anyhow but some do………………Before all this malarkey my wife often answered withheld’s because most of the time it was someone you knew or at minimum had at the very least heard tell of………..
Today……………I’d say it must be close to 9 out of ten calls that are nuisance calls here…………I’ve been down before I wrote this and ask wifey what numbers she recognised and the only one was her work which was withheld but because she knew the time of the call today that was her work………….
What use is this to man or beast…………..It is so bad that soem people and I’m guilty are so fed up the only time we answer the phone is if we’re walking past it or its sitting beside us…………….There is almost no point in going to it unless we need exercise and i’m alright that way

Our Gov was the one’s who wanted withheld or so I was told back when I had my awful problems with calls……………..

I have another story about fax’s back in the day…………Every morning a half roll of thermal paper was on the floor……………What need had I of hearing aid batteries but because we advertised batteries as part of our service BT picked up on it
BT denied that they had any part to play until a lovely man from Basildon said yes he paid BT to send advertising fax’s but once he knew what we done he said we had no need and he was being charged for directing advertising to somewhere clearly of no use to him
During the chat he offered all his details to me……….name,,,,,accounts numbers with BT an so on and told me forthright to go use them and get yourself peace
I went straight on to BT who again denied that they even offer such a service but when I told them their customers account details they tune changed
I never received a fax outside of our normal few per day again……….ever

Sorry I’m on a roll again……..

Your right again Dee I am ex.directory the only practical thing it does is keep you out of the telephone book other than that its useless in stopping sales calls/withheld/international etc . Interesting you mention BT ,as you know i worked for them but If you or any poster here has BT as their ISP (and I do ) then a word of warning . Do you use their. Home BT.com well you cant access the website unless you allow tracker= bt.co.uk to track you ,and yes its not just there to recognise you ,it tracks you ! then if you use mail,bt.com you cant access the website unless you allow at least 2 trackers this website is American so they make money on third party trackers (excuse ? -well its free ) this to presented a problem for me as I have 3 tracker blockers ,one at the moment is blocking 154 LIVE trackers . So to overcome this as I have zero intention of letting 1000,s –yes 1000,s of trackers follow me round the web I installed a small simple web browser completely open just for BT . But BT isnt alone this website has various trackers I wont name them to save embarrassment but at one time there were 7 ( thats reduced now ) . Not keen on Amazon Dee ? check up Which,s ISP.

I might buy twice per year off of Amazon
I really dont like the way they operate but everyone else it seems does not give a d**n
I only use them as a last resort as in if I cannot buy it on line anywhere else………….Its not about price………….I’ll really do give a d**n about ethics

Those ethics though do run me into trouble in case no one noticed!!!!!!!

if everyone can suffer me you’ll discover I’m not shark or a predator nor do I go out of my way to be a pain in the rear but I do have serious high values in some dept’s I have just lived a lot and learned a lot and I feel a lot

Thanks Guys

Make sure you don’t provide your number (landline OR mobile) if you ever apply for a British Passport! Her Majesty’s Passport Agency clearly sell on your number. I have always avoided giving out my mobile number but two weeks ago I made the mistake of giving the number when renewing my passport (ostensibly so that HM Passport agency could send me a text when they had received my documents and could give the reassurance that it was being processed) and since then I’ve been inundated with cold calls/automated messages.

I have to admit that until we have listened at least to the introduction of the calls that are captured on the answering machine or answered directly there is no way we can tell which ones we would describe as a nuisance. Some unexpected calls from firms or individuals have been beneficial and we would have been annoyed if they had been blocked.

I should be interested to know how the American technology differentiates between the different types of call.

Where individual companies can be identified as having perpetrated nuisance calls, as this campaign in Scotland proposes, and action is taken against them, the level of nuisance calling could drop dramatically.

Malcolm – I don’t get nuisance calls on my mobile, just the landline. Others do get these calls on their mobiles and some have complained about this on Which?Convo, and I don’t know why I have been spared. I have both numbers on websites but not in a form that can be ‘harvested’ by automated scanners.

I registered my mobile with TPS a long time ago. Doesn’t make any difference though.

Companies are blatantly ignoring TPS because they are seen as basically “non-functional ” in that they talk a good fight and take a deferential approach to BB always on the side of business looking for excuses why they cant do anything . I have been on their website maybe in old age I cannot see any statement as to any fines applied to BB , maybe in very small print . In any case the “flowerly ” language in no way shows an enforcement agency but a “holding agency ” to deflect the public for concrete action against those companies ,who I have read , quote- take no heed of the TPS . No one can say this government isnt pro BB and anti-UK citizen when it comes to social protection of harassment resulting in fatalities due to suicide (documented by various charities ) as the government refuse to print statistics for it.

Ohh ho,,,,,,,,,,,,,That is something that maybe we should look at………….Those suicides

Dee. every year 1.5 Billion nuisance calls are made to the British public . BT receives more than 100,000 queries every month about it , which can be particularly discerning for those suffering from mental illness or the like. There are currently 750,000 people suffering from dementia in the UK , of that number 16,000 are young people ,by 2025 it will be over 1 million. Cold calling is one of the most negligent forms of direct marketing many customers having to endure several calls a day ,with the vulnerable becoming targets for marketeers . In effect if these cases were individual ,many could be considered as abuse in breach of the Hate Crime Disability Law. A recent example in the Mirror had an astonishing account of a 93 year old man who had been signed up to 5 phone providers at the same time . Shockingly Ofcom told Maurice Haywood that his father had NOT had anything illegal done to him , when it was obvious that he was not in full control of his mental faculties . IT is so bad in the US that one website I visited provides a service to BB that teaches staff training programs in call centres NOT to bully customers.

We had to take the landline away from my Dad a few years back because of charges that he agreed to for numerous things non of which he remembered diddly about………….non refundable either
In effect the bullies if you want to call them that and I personally dont disagree with you took one of my Dads link to the outside world away……………..If we paid BT as we did several times to change the number it only took a few weeks to he was talking to people he didnt know again…………..It seemed like word got out and it was open season on Granda Kay
It’s easy taking candy from a child just the same as its easy scaring the B*J***s out of someone…………
Our Gov/MPs etc are making money out of everything and as long as the money flow keeps going they’ll smile all the way to the bank…………….
But their all in bed with Mr Ozzy and he knows no bounds…………..he is as far away from reality as anyone can be………….Anyone who would want the powers of the Lords restricted has to be watched and what’s more alarming is that he had some backing!!!!

Yes we do actually, 59% higher rate than landlines. I get significantly more emails in my spam for loans, insurance, pension/equity release, credit cards, accident/injury claims and ppi claims despite not needing any of them. The same thing happens with my mobile. And my details are not even LISTED!

In answer to your question: do mobile phone users suffer this hassle as well as land line users – yes, emphatically, we do! I was being repeatedly called from 084… And 087… Numbers on my mobile and BEING CHARGED, even though I never answered them! Eventually, with assistance from my network provider, I think we have managed to block all 084… and 087… Numbers.

I have a Mobil phone and have not given my number to all these companys phone numbers are bought by these company’s what has happened to data protection where phone numbers are sold or given out willy nilly

Many people have to buy software to protect their computers. It seems an everlasting fact of life that many people aren’t as nice as us. So if buying a device were the only way to stop or limit nuisance (as opposed to legitimate new) phone calls then whether or not I should have to, I would. No point in cutting off your nose etc…..It’s a far from ideal world.

I asked about whether mobile phone users were affected simply because I never have been on the several mobiles we have and have had. Nor do we get more than one a week at most on our landline. So what determines who gets harassed and who does not?

malcolm who gets harassed is usually the person/people who interact with others on the web /who buy on the web / who use a supermarket card/ who visit many websites /who dont take precautions or listen to advice about viruses/who allow multiple tracking cookies /beacons etc to travel with them throughout the web /who use open browsers /who use google chrome/ google being the worlds biggest tracker for third party gain (i have 27 google trackers blocked although I dont have google anything on my PC ) but even this website use google , who visit all the social websites of any type including here . Who make statements as to what they like on the media ,who say they want something ,who give their details from their cards to buy in shops . The list is endless I hjave a constant battle as I get round the web to stop trackers tracking me ,at least 4/5 /day try to lock onto me and I block them . How not to get called ? pay by cash in small shops / dont surf the web dont fill in forms on the web , nor in magazines , get a good browser and install multiple tracking blockers , buy Internet virus protection , make all your cookies be removed on browser shut down and program your browser to delete all cookies on your computer or locate where they are on your computer and remove them ,dont use Win 10 thats just asking for tons of emails / snail mails , install LInux ,. Its so bad now that you would need to be anti social and a hermit to stop 100 % sales calls etc . This is the way the Internet is pictured by BB ,we are all consumers to be pressurized into buying something , in mine and my wife,s case funeral payments nothing is sacred even death is commercial.

We do most of the above. and use Google. I’m also very poor at deleting cookies. But we never use social networking sites. May be that’s a clue?

I just wonder whether anyone has analysed in detail any correlation between peoples activities – as you list for example Duncan – and their exposure to “nuisance” phone calls. Besides dealing with the perpetrators it may be worth seeing if the recipients could change certain of their habits to good effect?

I am not on any social networking sites.

I also don’t use price comparison websites but I am on them. I called John Lewis for a car insurance quote and they pulled up all my details from a price comparison website that another company had used to get me a quote!!! Is it any wonder you receive mail from a barrage of companies you have never dealt with when your insurance is up for renewal?

99% of nuisance calls are on my mobile which is with o2 who were hacked some time ago. My mobile is also the number I give out when internet shopping. If I am asked for more than one phone number, my mobile goes into both boxes.

Also clear or block Flash cookies as they hold more data.

Alfa -Flash has now become an obsolete app -officially being phased out, although you get sites saying =install flash player it is a spent force . All the big boys are moving to HTML5 ,Flash is so leaky that once they stop it being used to implant viruses on Tuesday by Wednesday its hacked again . Its a total liability but its taken years to admit it to the public . Tech. sites/business sites have known it for years . I removed Flash years ago but when I used Windows it kept downloading itself just like unwanted Win 10 “updates ” I had to go into the registry to remove it ,its easier to keep at bay in LInux. If its on your computer its a liability to infection . Remove or block it in your browser , its old tech. install HTML5 on your browser

We’re talking about dealing with the problem of nuisance calls and you take advantage to express your paranoid theories. Capitalism depends on democracy and the rule of law. It is the rule of law that will stop abusive behaviour. Take of your tin foil hat and enter the real world. Become part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Capitalism doesnt equal democracy one of the most spied upon countries in the world is the US , cameras and mikes in every big city , telephones intercepted by the NSA , key words used to spy on telephone/ computer users , try protesting peacefully in the States ,jailed. night sticked ,lose your job , you cant even criticise BB without attracting attention of the authorities ,drones overhead by the 1000,s with satellite quality cameras ,neighbour shopping neighbour if conversation sounds “commie ” ,Rule of law in the UK, for whom ? certainly not if you are rich and powerful , your indiscretions covered up here or the old saying =not in the public interest – one law for the rich another for the poor.

” The truth is, in lots of different places, which is why Which? is trying to come at the problem from all angles, and bring people together to prioritise the issue. 2

Does all angles include providing data etc for the 1.5m Supporters and subscribers so that the power of mass thought might be able to find a solution?

Perhaps if we list all the benficiaries [firms] that employ nuisance calls to generate business we can then blacklist them publicly so people realise that you should not support cold calling operations.

So before you use any business check whether they are abusers of the telephone system. Go elsewhwere.

I would have thought somebody in the regulation business already has something like but they are not using it effectively.

Diesel -would Which allow a long list of cold calling abusers to be published ? I have hesitated from listing many as I would be accused of being a “lefty ” ( well I am but you know what I mean ) . I know where Which comes from etc but at least it allows somebody like me to post comments to which I am grateful.

Which? already publishes a list of the top ten reported numbers via the ‘Report unwanted calls or texts’ tool associated with the ‘Calling Time on Nuisance Calls’ campaign. This can be seen in the Campaigns section of the website. There are probably thousands of such numbers but I see no reason why they could not be published.

Alfa and Duncan,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Good on you,,,,,,,,,,I hadn’t time to read this yesterday but I took a lot of it in this morning
Another load of con artists and crooks that our Gov has for the best part ignore for many years
I dont understand why Moneysupermarket has/is not being held to account if as you say they have been selling of peoples details
Good work guys…………..I enjoy this type of thing

Unfortunately someone will of course come along and defend withheld numbers no doubt

Until I started researching selling of data on the web, I had not realised how big a business it really is.

It is horrendous when you think about it, all your personal information being bought and sold by goodness knows who to do whatever they like with it.

Whatever happened to data protection? Why are these companies even allowed to exist?

You done well to keep a few references………….I’ve been suspicious for many years but was simply looking at it along with other things
I think it would be safe to say I am slowly approaching to point of trusting no one/company/corp…………
One may even be face to face to someone who will promise you something but once your out of sight the pressure on them is such that they about turn and toe the line
If I had written my views without ref/quotes I would have been another conspiracy nut so thanks for filling us in with a little detail…….this is interesting to me but not my subject……….

You’re right, I should have given references.
So if anyone wants to read the whole articles here they are:

Yesterday (April 2015) ……
Details collected by MoneySupermarket.com ………
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375066/Beware-company-websites-selling-personal-details.html

Security firm AVG …….
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-09/17/avg-privacy-policy-browser-search-data

The nation’s personal information ………
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3258673/Data-valuable-salesmen-fraudsters-s-personal-information-private.html

Cold callers are buying Brits’ personal information …….
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/foreign-firms-buying-your-details-6037244

COUNCILS have been accused ………
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/politics/12885257.Councils_earned___10k_by_selling_your_details_to_marketing_companies/?ref=rss

The Information Commissioner’s Office ……….
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2436006/ico-writes-to-1-000-firms-who-buy-and-sell-data-in-a-bid-to-thwart-nuisance-calls

Hello Dave its now over a year since I purchased the CPR Call-Blocker ( the top model ) and have went from 15 calls a day down to Zero. This is the US,s top seller . What a nice quiet life now !

Dont worry about being shot down……………take a big breath and go again

Although we differ on the make of call-blocker Malcolm I agree with what you say . I was particularly struck by the post of a non-regular poster who made the comment that has stuck in my mind . He said- If everybody bought a call-blocker BB would be in Big trouble . To counteract it they would need to employ hackers or “official hackers ” to attack the call-blockers . No this isnt a “conspiracy theory ” Mine has been attacked several times it gives it away by giving off a loud bleep which allows some calls through but a reset cures it. And NO its not the mains or radiation problems I ruled them out. Its got , em worried it seems !

Duncan I’m really curious do you have a cdv-700 or similar???

Leccy off and on here every hour or two
Big 4cyl genny going but its greedy

For Duncan again
Just before Xmas I had the canopy of our usual/normal stand-by unit shot-blasted and I re-painted it………..for a complete rebuild…………..Its now hard and I can pull it about as such…..
Ex NATO hardened…….big metalized filters on each end………..fans and linear motor operated vents
You’d swear its 20kw by the canopy size
Alternator is a brush type with transformer voltage regulation…………..Look it up it’s really nice and simple

Tiny little 2cyl genset that I looked for years for as they are like hen’s teeth

I couldn’t even find a photo to remind me but one turned up locally which surprised me

Our new cabin is all metal cased in some form or another……………s**t mobile signal inside

Just thought I’d give you something to think about

Sorry for veering off topic…………..one must have interests

Dee

Dee no I dont have one although I built one decades ago , the detector was dear . It was for the Ukraine nuke explosion that was grossly covered up here in terms of the amount of radiation swept in from Russia ,the East coast got it bad . You and I seem to like the same ex wd shops There,s an ex NATO supplier of electronic gear on line and a ex.wd test gear supplier I buy from. I had a small ac generator -1500W for a few years ,used it a boot sales but when I was starting it up stuff was stolen from my table , got a modified sine wave converter – 1200W worked off 12 car battery ,still have both . Metal cased cabin ? that will cut down spying on you or anybody picking up RF radiation . During the cold War the US used one off those special cages to stop anybody picking up what they said .think it was a Faraday shield . Stop there as some might not like it ,we have interests in common Dee. If I wasnt stuck because of personal circumstances we would have a lot to talk about.

One last comment before we light the fuse again below the unbelievers……………….Mine never shuts up anywhere here at home……………no sir,,down near zero it does not do…………….but there are area’s several times worse not so far away
Before 86 it was nowhere near as bad
I have a lot of first hand knowledge in this metal cage business…………..It’s nice
Anyhow enough of that………we’ll be emailing shortly if we keep this up

Here here for Malcolms post

What action Derek ? as I have said telecommunications is reserved to Westminster and what can the Scottish government do ,if the English government cant either ??

Sure its not the weather Roger ? Just look at the complaints here on Which and where they come from .

wavechange you have great faith that Scotland can bring about a miracle I dont have that faith as I am being practicable . You can advise people not to do this or that but that wont stop unwanted calls, the companies keep changing the goal posts . I repeat only legislation can bring change (or a revolution ) . You must have read the bible when Jesus talks to the blind man who has gone to a lot of trouble to meet Jesus and when Jesus asks him if he believes he says yes and he is cured ,and Jesus says- never have I found so much faith ,no not in all the land. I admire that faith.

I don’t know about faith but we – and many others – see the need for legislation. Unfortunately, the government of this country seems to be paying more attention to industry than its citizens. Which? has put a great deal of effort into its campaign to stop nuisance calls but until we have legislation to make them illegal without our consent the problem will drag on.

Wavechange, how do you stop companies lying and saying you opted in? How do you stop them pretending they are genuine marketing or charity calls? How do you stop spoofed numbers? How do you protect vulnerable people?

When you get one of these calls, you only have the word of the complete stranger at the other end of the phone. You have no idea if they are telling you truth or lies.

I get called from mobile phone companies trying to get me to take out a new contract. They know I am with o2, say they are from o2, but they are lying and if I believed them, could find myself in a contract with a company I had no intention of joining. I believed the first person who called me and as it sounded a very good deal and said I would check out the phone they were offering me and the person on the other end said they would call back the next day. If I had decided to take up the offer I would have gone into an o2 store NOT do it over the phone. I checked the phone number I was called from and it was from another company. I did question the person the following day and they admitted they were not from o2 but calling on behalf of o2, still a lie.

I gave an example in the previous convo of a lady saying she was doing market research to improve services in my area. She was lying as the questions had nothing to do with services in my area.

As long as cold calling is permitted, scammers will manipulate the system to continue with nuisance calling. The only reason they call you is to get money out of you one way or another and these convos give too many examples of people who have been conned. You should never enter into a contract with a complete stranger on the other end of a phone no matter how convincing they sound. And they are getting more convincing as they “follow” the rules.

It’s vulnerable people that concern me most, Alfa. I am cautious and have never bought any product or service as a result of a phone call. Even when I receive a call from a company I use, I tell them I will call back after looking up the number.

If we have to opt-in to receiving marketing calls rather than opt-out via TPS, I doubt that many would do this. If most of the calls were illegal then the government could be forced to act. All calls are logged, so if BT was required to confirm that an illegal call was made to a domestic number, action could be taken against the relevant companies. I understand that BT knows the number of the caller even if our caller display shows that it has been withheld or gives a false number.

I want to see market research by phone banned. Even though it is currently legal, the calls are still nuisance calls, and as you have pointed out, marketing calls are often introduced as market research. I have no problem with participating in telephone market research as long as I can make the the call at a time convenient to me.

It would be helpful if Which? had a campaign advising us not to buy goods or services via the phone unless we have made the call.

Wavechange, can you give some examples of companies you would like to opt in to receive calls from?

Examples would be companies that provide me with goods and services (so that I have the opportunity to provide constructive criticism and suggestions) and companies that sell products or services relevant to my hobby interests.

Wavechange, your examples can easily be achieved with emails, texts or even snail mail that are not intrusive.

Can you say all you would like to say about goods and services when you are put on the spot with an unexpected phone call? What is wrong with a free reply to a text or email if you would like a follow-up call for a service? At least you would be expecting it.

I email, write or phone companies when I have something to say to them. I will even sometimes give them my phone number to call me back but I don’t want them calling me unless there is a very good reason like a problem with an order or delivery or appointment.

I am on a lot of emailing lists. Many I have not signed up for but I don’t have a problem with them as they get directed to my junk folder and I can handle them at a time convenient to me and most of them probably get mass deleted anyway.

There is a big difference between a hobby shop phoning you and saying are you still interested in something and the big business of buying and selling of personal data that leads to all the nuisance calls we get where opting in or out just won’t work.