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Old 17-09-2014, 13:36
Gerry1
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436

What's wrong with just saying 'hello' and having a normal conversation to ascertain who it is?

You can always put the phone down if it's PPI-er, as their taped spiel starts...
Because it's thoroughly annoying to be continually interrupted with nuisance and fraudulent calls.

It's bad enough if you're just doing ordinary things, but it must be extremely distressing if you're a shift worker being woken up, have a family member or relative that's ill or vulnerable, if you're awaiting a transplant etc. Many people have to remain contactable at all times and unplugging the phone is simply not an option. Doctors and hospitals usually withhold their numbers and are paranoid about Data Protection and therefore won't leave messages that could be accessed by others.

The problem is that ALL the UK regulators and watchdogs are just as useless as the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner that refused to resign, bloated fat cats that churn out endless turgid reports but achieve nothing whatsoever.

It doesn't have to be like this; when my landline in the US went live I received four 'courtesy calls' from home security companies in the first hour, presumably because Verizon had leaked my 'new line' status. But I registered with the Do Not Call list and that worked a treat. So it can be done. In contrast, the UK's Telephone Preference Service is next to useless: Ofcom's own figures show that two thirds of nuisance calls keep on coming.

The answer is very simple: just JAIL the CEO of any UK organisation that buys sales leads from a company that calls anyone on the TPS. That would stop these calls overnight. For fraudulent calls ('this is Microsoft, you have a problem with your computer') it must be possible to trace the bank accounts that receive the funds of those who have been defrauded.

Other backup measures should include making Caller Display, Anonymous Call Rejection and Choose to Refuse free of charge: these are existing exchange facilities that cost the telcos nothing to implement. There should also be a quick and straightforward method for automatically logging and reporting the ID of a nuisance or fraudulent call immediately after receipt, e.g. 'Dial 1-SPAM'.

Unfortunately there's no will do do anything; the regulators can't be bothered and the telcos prefer to profit from the calls, to charge for the above services and to sell expensive call blocking hardware.
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Old 18-09-2014, 12:59
SteveMcK
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Join Date: Jan 2002
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What's wrong with just saying 'hello' and having a normal conversation to ascertain who it is?
After the fifth interuption to dinner in a week "hello" isn't what comes to mind to say to them...

You can always put the phone down if it's PPI-er, as their taped spiel starts...
Easier just to let them talk to the answering machine, I can pick up if it's someone I want to talk to. I'd say that around 90% of the calls I get in a week are from telesales, only maybe 10% are from friends and family.
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