Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

I am registered with the TPS and don't get many unwanted calls but I think that's more to do with being ex directory. Of course companies you have used in the past such as double glazing have a 'relationship' with you because you are a customer, so the TPS rules don't apply to them anyway.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

Tps were toothless so we just bought a better phone and pay for call minder which blocks nuisance calls and is one of the best things we ever did.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

Our number has been ex-directory with telephone preference service for over twenty years, yet we still get calls. The problem seems to be since the internet. When you have to fill in an application form online, even government sites, many insist on a contact number. If when filling it in you try to add the wording ex directory with the number, it will not accept it. And of course, we all know how we cannot trust anyone not to pass our personal details onto other organisations, who probably do the same and so on. It is so annoying. Call Minder seems to do rather a better job than TPS.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

I am not registered with TPS, I have no need to be. My phone is ex-directory and in the five years I have had this number I have never had a cold call. If a telephone number is required for the internet purchases etc. I have three methods, a row of zeros, my number with the digits transposed, or my mobile, which I never use. So, no nuisance calls ever.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

I leave my phone off the hook all the time , unless I am expecting a call.
If people want me, can phone my mobile.
Works a treat .
LOL

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

Sorry its not Talk Talk...., its a Asia scammer who because I did what I did and reply to a scam E mail giving details of my number and my ISP.

I do enjoy them as I wish they got cancer as well as their scum children.

After 2 years of me taking the piss they stopped calling me.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

I'm ex-directory but I still get nuisance calls from people who are telling me about some non-existent accident I was supposedly involved in.
I politely tell them to fvck off. Please.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

I don't usually get any problems, but strangely enough, the last few days I have been getting 'Silent Calls.'
I am ex-directory and with TPS too.

I have just spoken to the TPSl, who were very pleasant, and they told me to ring OFCOM and gave me their number.
This I did, and again found the lady very pleasant.

She logged everything I told her and gave me a reference number.
She said they will check to see if the company (or whoever it is) is breaking the rules. If they are, they are heavily fined - in fact she said it has been up to 2million in some cases!!

All in all, that ought to teach them not to keep pestering me with their heavy breathing!

I think she said we can check the progress of enquiries on their website, but can't remember exactly now.

Here's their website page about calls if anyone needs it.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-tele...s-and-messages

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

My understanding of how it all works is as follows:-

1) There are very large Call Desk Companies, usually abroad, who have machines set up to call numbers, continually, to establish where there are people who answer their phones.

2) If the receiving phone is picked up, the number is recorded as "Active" and passed to whichever company is using the calling service. (Picked Up means "by a person" OR "by an answering machine".

3) Some skilled mouth will now talk to the called person and get them involved in whatever they are trying to sell.

4) As already said, the Active number is now passed on to anyone who wants to buy an active list.

So, in order to minimise the number of callers you need, first of all , to avoid picking the phone up at all.

Look into call blocking by your phone Company.

The TPS can only help if the caller Desk is in the UK. Most of them are not!

For a while I cut back on my in-comings by recording the following message on my answering machine:-

"I cannot come to the phone right now, so please leave a message, except if you are a Cold Caller, in which case "Shove Off"."

That worked reasonably well but my daughter told me it was naff, so I had to stop that message.

Re: T.P.S. Hopeless?

TPS has been hopeless for some years now. Reason being that the rules only apply to this country. So telesales companies simply switched their bases to offshore places and resumed their nuisance calling.

There is only one sure fire way to rid yourself of this perpetual problem. Actually there are 2 but since one of them is for BT to stop operating it's lucrative protection racket scam we can effectively conclude there is only one.

The solution is VERY simple.

YOU NEVER ANSWER YOUR PHONE . . . . .

Unless it rings twice and the person at the other end immediately hangs up.

If that happens, you know it to be family or friends and you do a 1471 to find out who it was and then you ring them back.

As brutal as this solution seems, I guarantee that it will work.

And I'll guarantee that answering the phone, as you currently are doing, is exacerbating your problem. I know this because an actual telesales employee came onto a forum and answered some straight questions I asked to confirm what I already suspected.

The root of the problem we all face is that there exist a number of databases in which YOUR details are recorded. Against your entry in those databases are a number of flags which categorise you. Those flags basically state whether YOUR NUMBER is a viable good target for telesales companies.

Guess what . . . .? If you answer your phone then the telesales system that called you (or the telesales employee) instantly updates your database entry to say that the number is good and has a real person at the end of it. You are now a viable target.

The presence of that flag in the database is now going to cause you endless misery because that company will sell the database to a whole host of other companies who want details of viable targets to pester. In turn, when they are done with you they will sell the database on to a host of other companies. This goes on and on ad infinitum and EVERY TIME you answer that phone you instantly keep confirming that your number is a good viable target.

The ONLY TRUE WAYs to rid yourself of all this nuisance are to either pay BT's protection racket money (by paying for Caller ID separately or as part of a package) or to do what I do and NEVER ANSWER THE PHONE.

I promise you this does work extremely effectively.

You tell all your family and friends what system you are now using and that if they call you, they must let it ring twice and then hang up and that you will then ring them back.

When the telesales people call, they ring and ring and ring. So you know it's not family or friends. When you don't answer they make a note in their log that you weren't in and will try again later. When you don't answer again they make another note and will try a different day. After enough failures to get anyone to answer the phone, they mark your database entry as UNOBTAINABLE or equivalent flag that means there's no-one there. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE!

Once you're flagged as a useless number, other companies have no interest in your database entry, all they want are the good viable targets, that's what they are willing to pay money for.

Over a short span of time you'll get yourself flagged as a bad number on all the databases doing the rounds. At that point the calls simply stop.

I've operated this system for some years now and apart from the very rare odd call, am never bothered by nuisance calls any more. Friends and family completely understand the system and are very used to letting the phone ring twice.

I highly recommend this but understand that some out there are weaker in their resolve and will simply cave in and pay BT the "protection racket" money for a Caller ID service which then allows them to block numbers.

Note though that this isn't really a solution because you still have to accept a telesales call the first time before you then block that number in your answering machine or equivalent gizmo. By answering the number your are getting yourself flagged as a good target again, which then guarantees you will get perpetual nuisance calls.

Personally I don't call that a solution. Paying BT money to be able to continually receive nuisance calls and then continually block the numbers is a crap idea. It solves little and rewards BT for operating this racket.

Better to simply not answer the phone as I have outlined.