Overseas call centres

[watervole]

I'm getting increasingly annoyed, on an almost daily basis, by people phoning from overseas (in order to evade the UK legislation on spam phone calls).

Is there anything at all that can be done to prevent this?

Comments

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

You can sign up on BT for no spam calls, it doesn't stop them completely but it does reduce them. I have been using an answer phone for years for just this reason, my family and friends and work know to speak after the tone and I'll pick up, cold callers hang up unless it's one of those pre recorded messages, Most pf my family are doing the same now.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

If you mean the Telephone Preference Service, it only works for companies in the UK.

If you mean something else, tell me where I sign up!

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I mean the telephone preference service, the rest is why I use an answer phone to screen my calls. After 6 months using it my spam calls were reduced from 5 or 6 in an evening to 2 or 3 a week.

You could try going ex-directory but even that doesn't work as some firms demand a phone number before they deal with you and then sell your number along with every other one they've gathered

[gaspodex.livejournal.com]

Just get the name of the company they are phoneing on behalf of and mention TPS. Even if they phone from abroad the company they are calling on behalf of can still be fined - ask reet - she knows more about it ..

[watervole.livejournal.com]

You're only protected if the company is UK based. Here's what the TPS website says:
Will registering on the TPS stop unsolicited sales and marketing calls from overseas?

Companies based abroad who call into the UK and who are making calls on behalf of a UK based company, must comply with UK regulations and screen their call lists against TPS before making an unsolicited sales and marketing call to a UK telephone number. We do make the file available to overseas based companies under licence for the purpose of suppression so they know whom not to telephone but many overseas companies who telephone the UK on their own account from overseas do so to avoid legal and self regulatory restrictions. We would advise caution in responding to unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls from overseas especially if they are asking you to send them money or using a premium rate phone line (numbers beginning with 09). If you are receiving unsolicited sales and marketing calls from overseas you should contact the overseas company who is making the call.

[johnrw.livejournal.com]

I've used a mix of things, Telephone preference service, Answer machine with a personalised message (which reminds me I ought to rerecord it/them as it's currently the generic one that it defaults to), and leaving the modem in fax answer mode - and my number is carried on BT's database as a computer line.

One other advantage I have is that my number is five digits - and several databases refuse to accept numbers with less than six!

[philbradley.livejournal.com]

A nice loud whistle. It doesn't actually *stop* the calls from arriving in the first instance but it has 2 effects - it makes you feel good and it gets them to hang up quickly.

[twistedanimator.livejournal.com]

as them to repeat their name then say hi .... how are you? wait for an answer.. ask them about weather .. chat to them .. ad nauseum.. about inane stuff.. only let them talk to answer your questions.. about themsleves.. they go away and by the time you have finished being overly nice you can get quite giggly

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the latest batch have such an incomprehensible Indian accent that conversation is virtually impossible.

[kerravonsen]

I must admit I do call screening with my answering machine. Most of them seem to hang up if they get an answering machine.

Another thing that seems to disconcert some of them is that I normally do not answer the phone with "hello", but with my phone number.

Thirdly, I have a slight advantage because they often ask for Mrs (my-surname) and that indicates to me that they're phone-spammers before they get a chance to get into their spiel. Then I will either:
(a) say "not interested" and hang up
(b) say "there's no Mrs (my-surname) here" and hang up

I used to be a bit friendlier to people who were doing surveys, if I had some free time. Unfortunately, I discovered to my fury that this is sometimes done under false pretenses, when the folks who did one survey then rang me up a few days later to try to sell me some service (based on the answers I gave to the survey). It used to be the case that people doing surveys were actually doing a legitimate job, trying to do market research and get feedback and keep their data anonymous. Now these other bastards have now poisoned the pool for everyone else. Grrr.

[melodyclark.livejournal.com]

Don't know, but I've been trying to figure out a way to stop it here in the States, too. The calls always seem to come from India (I can tell by the accented English) these days. And oddly enough they're always named "Patrick" or "Cathy". I realize these folks are just trying to earn a living but yeesh ... it's becoming ludicrous. I get called about refinancing my mortgage five times a day -- and I paid it off four years ago.

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

Several years ago, I got a new number when I switched telecom providers because keeping the old number would have cost too much. I decided then to keep the number unlisted. But that doesn't stop the phone company from selling my number along with a lot of others. They just don't give out my name, but sell a lot of numbers that are all in the same area. However, a short note to them stating that I didn't want them to do that with my number took care of that.

Since then I've been very careful about giving out my number. If I have to fill in a number on an internet form, I give them all zeroes unless I actually want them to call me back. As a result, the number of spam calls has dropped dramatically, to only a few each year. And the last one was from the phone company itself :-\

This is in the Netherlands, however, so YMMV in other countries.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

You can ask BT to have your number missed out of the paper directories, but still available through directory enquiries, I suspect that might help unless they dial every number in sequence.