For the past year now we have been receiving calls from 0800 Reverse saying someone wants to speak to us on a reverse charge call. When I put the phone down, the automated service is still going and it sends a ring through the telephones. When you can get rid of the ruddy thing and dial 1471 you get a number '0845 ----' and the funny thing is when Reverse Charge say who the call is from there is either BG noise or the other day I picked up Sunday Afternoon and sounds of someone giggling.

This is a scam - right ? How do we stop this ? Can we report this ?

I believe 0800 Reverse is a legitimate service, but sounds like someone is prank calling you through the service. Just dont accept the call and you will not be charged.

Well, I don't accept the call when it comes through anyway as I know I will be charged for it. It's a little bit more than prank calling though don't you think .. ?

Just had a look at the 0800Reverse Website and found the following:

II. Cancellation - should the service no longer be required please contact 0800 Reverse at the details in section 3 ‘Contact Details’. 0800 Reverse will ensure that you can no longer receive 0800 Reverse reverse charge calls or messages to your telephone number. You will be responsible for all applicable charges relating to use of the service up to the time of cancellation of the service.

You can contact them Online:
http://www.0800reverse.co.uk/contact.htm

Or by Phone: 0845 0779000 And ask them to stop calls coming through.

Hope that helps

Yes that does help. Thank you. I hope this will stop the 0845 number coming through

And the service is not cheap, its a connection charge of £3.48 plus 50p a minute.

No one will be able to get through with 0800 Reverse anyways, BUT if you don't want them at all (Don't know if this is possible) maybe ring BT Customer Serivces to see if they can block calls of these nature also?

You can permanetly stop 0800 Reverse with a single e-mail (see post #2 in THIS MSE THREAD).

The only way to stop the BT version though is to refuse the call when it is delivered.

However, 0800 Reverse is the one you're most likely to get because, being an 0800 number, it attracts cretins of all ages and genres.

Thank you for the link. I have used the same template as you used and e-mailed 0800 Reverse. Also I've rung my Dad to get him to block 0800 R on the phone too.

Thanks for your help, heinz and everyone else.

I work as a BT 100 operator so can answer this.

0800 REVERSE is an entirely legitimate service. They advertise in phone boxes and have latterly advertised on TV.

However the service is mostly abused by children playing around in phone boxes. We receive hundreds of complaints every week about it. Kids either randonly dial numbers or dial numbers of schoolmates. I understand that this is fuelled by childrens' internet chatrooms where they exchange tips on how to annoy people.

A call to the company will block your number, although many are reluctant to do this for fear of missing a genuine distress call from their own children.

BT did operate a similar automated service at one point but it was withdrawn due to customer complaints.
Last edited by Black Label : 24-10-2006 at 03:23