Telephone Preference Service

[enigma]

I registered with the TPS a few months ago to stop unsolicited sales calls from call centres and whilst this has blocked calls from UK call centres , I am still being bombarded with calls from India (One centre in particular seems to have a problem grasping the fact that my husband and I are more than satisfied with our mobile phones and do not wish to consider another network and if we did wish to change , we would walk into a shop and conduct our business face to face) and receiving a high volume of silent calls. We had a call yesterday where the operator told us that she was in Florida and was diverting a call to us ... from India ! It was the afore mentioned company hounding us once more to buy a mobile phone. Argh !!! Please someone tell me how I can end these calls before I use some unsavoury language down the other end of the phone to get my message across loud and clear. The minute I tell them that I am registered with the TPS , they cut me off mid sentence and less than 10 secs later , the phone rings again - this time with their superviser trying to sell me a mobile. I'm at my wits end with it all !

[Robert G]

Some suggestions:

Don't be afraid to say anything you like! These are unsolicited calls invading your time.

When you can get a word in, say something like: "Hang on, there's someone at the door", place the phone down and leave them to get tired of waiting.

Tell them you're really glad they phoned because you needed someone to talk to, and then proceed to tell them all your imaginary (or real) problems, and ask them for advice.

Don't answer the phone, let it record messages, then phone back the welcome callers. The nuisance callers won't bother to leave messages.

[Buenchico]

Irrespective of where the call centre is, there must be a UK company who can be held responsible for these calls (simply because their products have to use a UK phone network).

TPS should have sent you a letter explaining what to do if you continued to receive advertising calls. You've probably lost it or thrown it away but all is not lost - there's an online complaint form you can submit here:
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/cgi-bin/tps_complaints.pl

Chris

(PS: Mr A. G. Bell can never have realised all the problems he'd be causing when he thought up the idea of the telephone. Ever since I bought my mobile, 5 months ago, I've been plagued with calls for some woman I've never heard of. Then, just over an hour ago, I got a call from a very aggressive man saying that he'd just dialled the number of the phone that was stolen from him and stating that, since he 'knows where I live', he was going to 'sort it out'!).

[gary baldy]

I think i'm actually getting MORE calls since i signed up for TPS!
I do what Robert says - say 'hang on a minute' and just leave them hanging.

[theo_wyvern]

when did you sign up for tps - just found out you have to reregister each year, and even when you do not all companies who sell your number update their lists reguarly.

personally when i have time i enjoy wasting their phone bill and pretend i'm interested in what they have to sell and then prove to them that it is not in my best interest to change my mobile - i dont want a camera phone !

[Jules001]

theo I think you are incorrect in thinking that you need to re-register, I was told that by a salesman who was trying to justify his call to me, but have been registered now for 3 years or more and I have never re-registered

Enigma check back with http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/ as they do have some info on silent calls and a section on calls from abroad, it may not have been there when you registered.

[enigma]

Thank you all so much for your help. At last I feel that maybe now I am getting somewhere and can try to put an end to the endless stream of unwanted calls to my home. I try to be tolerant of most of these people because I know at the end of the day they are only doing a job and a thankless one at that and they are probably sitting with some jumped up team leader fired up on caffeine and corporate crap breathing down their neck shouting come on sell sell sell ! (You would never guess that I once worked in sales in a call centre eh ?) It is so soul destroying to have to go through the same mind numbingly boring calls time after time , knowing that the product which you are trying to sell is rubbish (or it was in my case)and that you are only irritating people but you have a team leader extolling the virtues in the product like they have a personal share in the company and expect you to feel just as excited. The difference is though , I always knew that there was a line between calling to offer a service and ramming it down people's throats. Sadly , the people I seem to get on the phone don't seem to understand that when I say no quite firmly and even tell them that I am ending the call , they seem bemused by the fact that I do not share their enthusiasm for the product which they have been indoctrinated into thinking is heaven sent and feel the need to call me back time after time and then put their superviser and line manager on the phone to reinforce their comments as if speaking to senior management will somehow transform my opinion. WHat makes it even more irritating is that they are allowed to call people up until 9 pm but my young kids are in their beds by 8 pm so the constant ringing wakes them up and I don't want to switch the ringer off on my phone to let the answer machine take it in case I miss an important call. I shouldn't need to live like that though. No should mean no.

[enigma]

Part 1 : Buenchico - I didn't receive a letter from the TPS , I just thought that when I called to register , that would be the end of it but I appreciate your link and I will certainly make good use of that.Oh and I know what you mean about mistaken identity. I recently switched my landline to Telewest and when I called to book a taxi I was told that my number was barred. When I asked why I was met with the stony response that I had been abusive to a driver when I was drunk ! I protested that I hadn't ever called their company before because I had recently moved into my address and they couldn't have been more apologetic. The address which popped up on their screen automatically when I called didn't match mine so it was probably someone who had been cut off and I ended up with their number. I also have a drunken man who phones every so often asking for the same name and seems to think that I am lying to him and won't put her on the phone !

Gary Baldy - I know what you mean. I seem to get double the volume of sales calls since registering with the TPS.

I only signed up a few months ago for TPS Theo_Wyvern because it has only become unbearable recently. I have known about the service for some years though due to working in a call centre. I remember calling a gentleman who exploded with rage and cut me off straight away telling me that he was registered with TPS and that I personally as well as the company was liable for up to a �1000 fine for breaching the rules then he hung up on me. I had never heard of them prior to this and asked my team leader who in turn freaked out , took the ID no from the file on screen to update it and advised me to ditch any calls like that immediately in the future and to record poor data in my notes.

[enigma]

Part 2 :

I am very conscious of surveys , magazine competitions , online surveys and anywhere where you are asked to check the box if you do not wish contact from 'carefully selected companies' as I was told that this was the way in which they get your data. You have to also watch for the ones who try to catch you out by wording it 'check the box if you WISH contact from companies'. I never agree to it but they still get my details.

Jules thanks for your link too. The silent calls are the most irritating because you have no-one on the other end to express your annoyance to and it's a waste of your time to stop what you are doing for nothing. I will check out your link too.

Many thanks everyone x

[Lonnie]

I was getting these calls, (am with Telewest), but it shoudn't make any difference, I signed up to TPS, and still got them, so I contacted Telewest and had a 'call block' put on, cost me �1-00 per month, after two months, no more calls, have disengaged the call block, and still no cold calls. might be worth a try.

[Robert G]

I'm with Telewest and I did what Lonnie did, but that was a couple of years ago. At first it seemed to be effective, but then the nuisance calls started to come through again. Eventually I cancelled the call block facility.

[enigma]

Thank you ZebUK , Lonnie and Robert for your informative answers as well - everyone's help is most appreciated. Of course ZebUK , I know what you mean - you're talking about an automatic dialler system. We used them in the call centre which I previously worked in but although I realised that the calls were logged through to me as soon as I was showing as available , I didn't realise that this system generated a high proportion of silent calls , as I thought that there was always a sufficient amount of advisers ready to take calls at any given time. I guess not. I may indeed change my tel no , it's just such a hassle informing everyone who already has my new number but I may have no choice in the matter if I continue to get abusive calls or get banned from taxi companies etc through no fault of my own. Also , | know what you mean about people with withheld numbers not even being safe. I recently called a company to check product availability and I was asked for my tel no which I refused to give as I am ex directory. The adviser became quite stroppy and informed me that she had my number anyway because it was displayed on her call turret (even though I withheld it) but I got round it by bluffing and asking her at which point of the conversation did I say that I was calling from my OWN phone. Are they allowed to hold my number or worse still pass it on to a third party ? Surely there must be some regulation preventing this sort of conduct. Unfortunately I can't put a call block on my line Lonnie because that would prevent ALL withheld numbers getting through and i'd be worried that my daughter's school couldn't contact me god forbid , in an emergency.

[enigma]

My friend's phone has a hold button on it so she pops them on holdand every so often comes back to tell them that their call is important/moving to the front of the queue and thanks them for holding. It gives them a taste of their own medicine and she loves winding them up. Or her other one is to feign enthusiasm in the product which they are trying to sell then cut them dead by telling them on second thoughts she won't bother but I would imagine that that would just result in even more calls as there would undoubtedly be some team leader prattling on in the advisers ear about sales conversion, objection handling and scheduling a callback. Whilst they are all good suggestions , I like your one the best Robert about offloading my problems to them. I'm quite sure that I could deliver an oscar winning performance to them and it may just be enough to deter them in the future. Well , fingers crossed eh