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.