The TPS

[mad4amanda]

Hi everyone I still get called by this company regularly even though we are registered with the TPS , they say as they sell nothing they are not covered by it is this correct and what should I do to stop the calls. Today I gave the guy some careers advice as he had just started.

The company of leeches are: http://www.nationaladviceservice.co.uk/


Any ideas?

[L1OFF]

I still get loads of calls despite registering with TPS. They get around it by claiming not to be selling but only a "survey" or having the call centres outside the UK. Its got to the stage where I have caller id and only answer if it's somebody I know (and obviously details stored on phone)

[AndyNetwork]

Keep them on the phone, talking about the none existent accident you had, leaving you with amnesia, or the PPI insurance you are sure you had, but cannot remember when, or with who.

The longer you keep them on the phone, the less number of people they will bother, and their staff will get completely fed up and leave.

[AndyNetwork]

L1OFF said:

I still get loads of calls despite registering with TPS. They get around it by claiming not to be selling but only a "survey" or having the call centres outside the UK. Its got to the stage where I have caller id and only answer if it's somebody I know (and obviously details stored on phone)

I tell them that I will only answer surveys submitted by post - seems to work

[L1OFF]

AndyNetwork said:

Keep them on the phone, talking about the none existent accident you had, leaving you with amnesia, or the PPI insurance you are sure you had, but cannot remember when, or with who.

The longer you keep them on the phone, the less number of people they will bother, and their staff will get completely fed up and leave.

I did try the answer YES to every thing they said response and see how long they take to twig. I rarely use the landline now and only have it due to broadband.

[eybic]

When someone called our landline about similar I sounded really shocked and thanked them for letting me know, I explained we'd better clear the line so I could phone for an ambulance and the police about this serious accident that someone had been in. She hung up.

[rs1952]

L1OFF said:

Its got to the stage where I have caller id and only answer if it's somebody I know

The only problem I have with this is that some of my bona fide clients withhold their numbers, but those come up as "withheld" so they have to be answered during the working day. That said, the phone gets put down immediately if there is a silence or if somebody tries to start a conversation by saying "Good morning, how are you today" without telling me who they are first.

In the past few months I've found the problem spreading to my mobile phone as well. This is easier, because I only hand that number out to people I might like to hear from on the mobile. Anything that comes up "call," "no number" or "withheld" gets ignored.

Anybody who falls foul of my "spam filter" and is making a justified call can always leave a message

[eybic]

A good way to tell if they are from a call centre is to pick the phone up and say hello then say nothing, you will hear it connecting to the call centre. When they hear silence, they normally hang up.

[djohnson]

http://www.truecall.co.uk/call-blocker.aspx

Mine is simply set up so that it asks the caller to press a button to confirm that they're already known to me before the call is connected. Sounds simple but I've never had a single telesales or similar call come through since I bought this.

[Who me ?]

L1OFF said:

I still get loads of calls despite registering with TPS. They get around it by claiming not to be selling but only a "survey" or having the call centres outside the UK. Its got to the stage where I have caller id and only answer if it's somebody I know (and obviously details stored on phone)

Get as many details as possible and lodge a complaint with BOTH TPS and the ICO . For the "survey " folks I always suggested that they had infringed the telecomms ( date protection act) , and as such personally were committing a crime. ( the firms never educate them that well and it always got rid of them). For those claiming to call from outside the UK, CALLER DISPLAY will show "number with held " for UK with held numbers or "number unobtainable " ( or similar) for thoSe calls from outside the UK. Any with held callers on survey etc don't know that their number is only with held at the last exchange before the called party( if a UK number), and that the telephone company can interrogate systems to get their details ( though most won't).

[mad4amanda]

Trouble is we regularly get calls from abroad from family and from a couple of witheld numbers in the UK from work numbers so we cant just ignore calls. I have registered a complaint with the TPS but have done this before and never heard from them again.
Has anyone ever had feedback from a complaint?

Also rather worryingly it appears the TPS database is being sold to marketing companies under the guise of "these are the people that don`t want to be called and have registered with us, and here are their numbers!"
surely given these companies have a general disregard for the law and the rather toothless tiger that is the TPS this is entirely the wrong thing to do?

[AA999]

I think people would be better off doing away with your land-line phones.... when everyone has a mobile phone with free minutes etc.

I've not had a land-line for over three years and never had an occasion where I thought "darn, wish I had a land line phone".

[JustinP1]

mad4amanda said:

Any ideas?

Once I pretended to be an old man you couldn't hear what they were saying, and I purposely misinterpreted what they were saying on the basis they were sending me money in the post.

Went on for a good 15 minutes, it really brightened up my day.

[bluelightbabe]

AA999 said:

I think people would be better off doing away with your land-line phones.... when everyone has a mobile phone with free minutes etc.

I've not had a land-line for over three years and never had an occasion where I thought "darn, wish I had a land line phone".

That's fine as long as you live in an area that has mobile phone signal. My landline is essential as I can barely make or receive a call on my mobile at home.

[PeetBee]

AA999 said:

I think people would be better off doing away with your land-line phones.... when everyone has a mobile phone with free minutes etc.

I've not had a land-line for over three years and never had an occasion where I thought "darn, wish I had a land line phone".

I get far more of these calls to my mobile than I ever did to my land line, so I'm not sure that's the solution!

[Mill Wheel]

If I have time I love to play with these sort of callers!
Ask them random questions... where did they go on holiday, where do they live, how do they get to work...
Anything that takes them off their pre prepared script seems to throw them!

I was recently visiting my father in France, and answering them in English, and telling them they had reached a call box in the Outer Hebrides was great fun - and I was astonished that most could speak good enough English when required!

[timf]

always remember it is illegal to initiate an obsene phone call.

BUT if someone calls you then fair game.

I always find asking what colour undies are you wearing followed by can you send them to me generally gets them off the phone very quickly

[blueg33]

I rather like this way of answering

Please say your 8 digit code
You hsave 30 seconds to complete identity verification

When you get the stuttering rersponse you dsay

Your location has been logged
This is a secure government office
Stay on the line
Security forces are en route to you now
ETA 3 minutes
Stay on the line

Normally by the time I get to this I am speaking to a supervisor.

[pozi]

djohnson said:

http://www.truecall.co.uk/call-blocker.aspx

Mine is simply set up so that it asks the caller to press a button to confirm that they're already known to me before the call is connected. Sounds simple but I've never had a single telesales or similar call come through since I bought this.

These are wonderful devices, I setup one the same way for an elderly grandparent who was getting so concerned by nuisance cold callers that she started unplugging the phone.

[RobbyJ]

A tad OT but this is the only TPS I'm aware of.......

http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Torsonic_Polarity_...