Nuisance Phone Calls

[Lucan Unlordly]

In recent weeks we've been receiving phone calls at home from an 01202 number with the final 3 digits changing each time to get around our BT call blocker. I don't mind telesales calls, everyone's got to earn a living, but unanswered we're getting 3 or 4 a day. Answered, and we may get a day of respite. The obvious manipulation to get round the call blocker irks me!
I've managed to keep him on the phone for 3 or 4 minutes - hands free, whilst I go about my business - but am seeking ideas and suggestions to see if I can waste his time for a little longer?

PS: It's an energy company offering a free loft survey as apparently old loft insulation can cause damp

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Tell em to ££££ off

 

[MikeJ]

Telephone preference service.

https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/

 

[KM-Tiger]

Telephone preference service

Doesn't work in this case.

I've had a few of those calls and have been registered with TPS for years.

 

[IanSuth]

In recent weeks we've been receiving phone calls at home from an 01202 number with the final 3 digits changing each time to get around our BT call blocker. I don't mind telesales calls, everyone's got to earn a living, but unanswered we're getting 3 or 4 a day. Answered, and we may get a day of respite. The obvious manipulation to get round the call blocker irks me!
I've managed to keep him on the phone for 3 or 4 minutes - hands free, whilst I go about my business - but am seeking ideas and suggestions to see if I can waste his time for a little longer?

PS: It's an energy company offering a free loft survey as apparently old loft insulation can cause damp

Say you are in an apartment and the freeholder deals with the outside fabric of the property - he will be working to a huge list and will just put a x next to your record and you wont get called again

 

[AllUpHere]

Just tell them you rent the property and they will give up.

 

[Ian J]

PS: It's an energy company offering a free loft survey as apparently old loft insulation can cause damp

I had him earlier in the week but at 6pm. It was a very odd conversation as he seemed to ignore some of my responses and carried on regardless so in the end I just put the phone down

 

[ctrlbrk]

In recent weeks we've been receiving phone calls at home from an 01202 number with the final 3 digits changing each time to get around our BT call blocker. I don't mind telesales calls, everyone's got to earn a living, but unanswered we're getting 3 or 4 a day. Answered, and we may get a day of respite. The obvious manipulation to get round the call blocker irks me!
I've managed to keep him on the phone for 3 or 4 minutes - hands free, whilst I go about my business - but am seeking ideas and suggestions to see if I can waste his time for a little longer?

PS: It's an energy company offering a free loft survey as apparently old loft insulation can cause damp

Ask them in no uncertain terms to remove your name from their marketing/data records and stop calling you. It is your right.

If they insist, tell them you are going to report them to the ICO as they are breaking privacy laws.

I did that with a recruitment agency that kept spamming my inbox and the ICO took care of that.

 

[Karimbo]

you just have to be polite and not be rude, even though you're tempted. I was rude to one of them once and got a negative google review for it.

 

[thetiger2015]

Depends who it is. I've been getting 5 or 6 calls a day for the past week. I've tried blocking each of the numbers, but again, the last 3 digits keep changing. Don't think they'll be bothered about the ICO? If they're scamming, they'll just disappear in a few weeks anyway and then come back with a new set of numbers and another location.

 

[UKSBD]

Just a very polite, "sorry, I'm not interested" put your handset next to your keyboard start typing and listening for them to hang up.

I'm sure it's in their training that they are not allowed to hang up or end the call.

Some of them don't appear to know what to do and can be on the line for a while before eventually hanging up.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

just dont pick up the phone calls,they might give up

I blocked 4 numbers in one day. They don't give up.

I generally don't answer but the phone is set to ring for a long time before the answerphone kicks in. Gives me time to get in from the garden.

I've only started to pick up to waste their time

 

[Karimbo]

The biggest problem is number spoofing. Its very easy to do in the UK. Nuisance callers can basically spoof numbers very easily and get around any call blockers. I pissed off a nuisance caller once and got drop calls next few days with my own number as the caller ID which was a bit unnerving.

On a radio talk show they discussed the problem of scam callers and the problem was that callers can very easily spoof their number because of the old antiquated analogue bits mixed together with digital bits so it's difficult to detect number spoofing.

Until the infrastructure is fully digital it will be difficult to disable spoofing.

 

[paulears]

There is no point even talking to them, just say goodbye and hang up. I know it feels good wastinjg their time, but they don't care, and my time is precious.