Telemarketers in the UK

[snowdog]

Hello,


In the NL we have a ''don't call me'' register, basically a government controlled website where you can enter your phone number, which will forbid telemarketers to call you, if they do then you can ask for damages/they will be fined. I've not had any Dutch callcenters/marketers call me since.

However, recently, some asswipes from a UK number are calling me if I'm interested in making money on the financial market .

They even woke me up once on a day I was off from work, which resulted me in asking quite annoyed ''how did you get my number'' to which the lass replied ''from a website where you have your phone number in your account data, but we can't tell, but please, listen to my story first'', after which I really got annoyed and basically told her to not call me ever again, she again said ''but please sir listen to what I have to offer'' to which I bluntly ( by this time my blood was boiling, I wanted to sleep and they woke me up) said '''**** off'' and hung up.

Not answering/ignoring the call simply results in them trying the next day, or the day after .
They've called me many times during working hours in the office too, and they simply don't understand if you say ''no thank you, I'm at work, I'm busy and not interested'', they just continue to blab on about whatever scam they are trying to sell. They come over as far more rude than the Dutch telemarketers I've had years ago. I'm sick of these calls.

Is there a similar database in the UK were you can add your phone number so telemarketers are forbidden to call you ? Tempted to ask my provider or set my phone up to simply refuse/block all foreign calls .

An example of one of the numbers I got last week:

+44 20 38070307

EDIT: for now I installed ''should I Answer'' on my phone, which seems to block this kind of rubbish, still, I'd want to know if the UK has some kind of database that bans them from calling me, or even better, that allows me to undermine them. Can't stand these types of buggers.

 

[robin66]

We have the Telephone Preference Service. It doesn't seem to work to well as we still get cold callers after signing up to the service many months ago.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html

 

[Aldav]

We have the Telephone Preference Service. It doesn't seem to work to well as we still get cold callers after signing up to the service many months ago.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html

It can take a while to drop the level of calls, but it does work pretty well for 'respectable' companies. The problem is that not all companies are respectable, not all are even honest as evidenced by the volume of scam calls, and it won't stop foreign companies calling from abroad.

Snowdog, yes, our regulator does track and fine companies breaking cold calling rules, but my impression is that they are slow, and ineffective, and aren't fining anywhere near enough.

Also, and this a huge problem, they have generally taken the approach that the TPS list doesn't apply where you 'consented' to calls when you provided data, even if you didn't intend to consent or even didn't know you had, such as by ticking one of those silly little boxes when you shouldn't, or not ticking one when you should have. That consent is valid even if you missed it years ago.

I seem to remember that as part of EU rule changes, that 'consent' is changing and being tightened up significantly, so this situation should change, or may even have already changed.

In the meantime, all you can do is either ignore these calls, or pick up and hang up, or amuse yourself by stringing them along and wasting their time. Or by getting one of those call screening black boxes that you put on your phone line.

 

[Aldav]

We have the Telephone Preference Service. It doesn't seem to work to well as we still get cold callers after signing up to the service many months ago.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html

It can take a while to drop the level of calls, but it does work pretty well for 'respectable' companies. The problem is that not all companies are respectable, not all are even honest as evidenced by the volume of scam calls, and it won't stop foreign companies calling from abroad.

Snowdog, yes, our regulator does track and fine companies breaking cold calling rules, but my impression is that they are slow, and ineffective, and aren't fining anywhere near enough.

Also, and this a huge problem, they have generally taken the approach that the TPS list doesn't apply where you 'consented' to calls when you provided data, even if you didn't intend to consent or even didn't know you had, such as by ticking one of those silly little boxes when you shouldn't, or not ticking one when you should have. That consent is valid even if you missed it years ago.

I seem to remember that as part of EU rule changes, that 'consent' is changing and being tightened up significantly, so this situation should change, or may even have already changed.

In the meantime, all you can do is either ignore these calls, or pick up and hang up, or amuse yourself by stringing them along and wasting their time. Or by getting one of those call screening black boxes that you put on your phone line.

 

[atpbx]

We don't have a landline phone connected (although obviously have a live land line as part of our TV/Broadband package).

The volume of robot calls, scam calls, ppi claim calls etc was just stupid. So I just disconnected the phone and threw it in the bin.

My wife and I only use our mobiles now, we also don't put active email addresses or our numbers into any websites.

With me it's just ****off@****you.co.uk with 11111111111 as the phone number. Also, make sure you only tick that you can be contacted by post on websites like Go compare and compare the market.

 

[eatcustard]

I dont get any to my landline now, but loads to my mobile, so I block them or play them up for 10 minutes on the phone then hang up.

 

[peterwalkley]

Sounds very like a boiler room operation and they are likely not to respect the TPS anyway. Blocking the number is likely all you can do unless you want to raise a formal complaint with ofcom.

The caller Id could also be being spoofed and they are not even in the UK at all.

EDIT: I had a spate of these about 10 years ago. They were finding my details from publicly available share registers. I moved the shares into nominee accounts and they stopped.

One thing I found was to ask them to send you details in the post so you could read them and understand before making a decision. Nothing ever came, but the call monkey on the other end was able to register a positive "hit" and so they stopped calling every day. A call blocker is really the best solution though - these weren't around at the time.

 

[v0n]

I am surprised cold call boiler rooms still exist as the idea is about 30 years past its sell date.

 

[pastymuncher]

The TPS just doesn't work. We were bombarded with nuisance calls up until last New Years eve when we decided enough was enough and bought a twin pack BT8500 call blocking phone for £59. It uses the Truecall software and we haven't had a single nuisance call since.

 

[Sliver]

I tried TPS but still got cold calls. In the end I removed my landline phone and binned it out of frustration. Now I get maybe one cold call every few months on my mobile, which I simply hang up on.