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Him Her

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Following an extremely annoying cold call last weekend...

I was unusually polite on the first pickup, merely saying sorry, not interested, although I did then hang up. Me bad.

The idiot then called back so I ripped into him.

This resulted in one-minute call-backs until I unplugged the 'phone.

Consequently, I now have Call-blocking installed.

Should I record a suitably rude message?

:)
 
How about not-so-subtle, legal threats?

"Please be aware if you are an agent of [insert company name], a log of your calls is being kept with the aim of pursuing a claim under Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Your industry regulator has been informed of your conduct. This message is made without prejudice."
 
No. It is a farcical organisation. Most cold-calls now come from abroad. This is outside the scope of TPS.
 
I've had one of these for the last 4 or 5 years and not had one single unwanted call get through

http://www.truecall.co.uk/

It screens all calls so you don't even know you've had an unwanted call (unless you want to :))

A bit on the expensive side as call blockers go but the only one that has worked 100% for me
 
I've had one of these for the last 4 or 5 years and not had one single unwanted call get through

http://www.truecall.co.uk/

It screens all calls so you don't even know you've had an unwanted call (unless you want to :))

A bit on the expensive side as call blockers go but the only one that has worked 100% for me

Isn't there a chance this could also block legitimate calls? Some people have their number withheld by default- or is it smarter than that?
A good while ago a small company (Atlantic Telecom RIP) set up a small FRA network in Edinburgh. One of its features was 'anonymous call rejection', simply blocking all calls from withheld or 'not available' numbers. I ended up with the police at the door one night because they couldn't get through on the phone. (Nothing sinister, honest!).
 
Isn't there a chance this could also block legitimate calls? Some people have their number withheld by default- or is it smarter than that?
A good while ago a small company (Atlantic Telecom RIP) set up a small FRA network in Edinburgh. One of its features was 'anonymous call rejection', simply blocking all calls from withheld or 'not available' numbers. I ended up with the police at the door one night because they couldn't get through on the phone. (Nothing sinister, honest!).
it has a function to totally dismiss withheld numbers if you want or you can use the "Shield/whisper" function which asks the caller to say their name, the Trucaller unit then rings you and you hear the person say their name and either answer or not, the caller has no idea this is happening and just hears the ringing tone, if you don't pick up it rings off or asks them to leave a message, they assume you are not home

The best function by far is the Zap or Star function, if you have your settings to minimum and you get a nuisance call you just hit the Zap button and it cuts them off mid call and bars their number, the Star button does just that and stars the caller so they just come straight through whenever they call
 
I deal with nuisance calls as a very small % of my day to day.

There really is no point in firing into the phone monkey at the other end of the line, you may have a bit of fun at their expense (or so you think) and are able to regale your tales to your compatriots on how you pwned some minimum wage knob-end by winding them up (well done you!). Fair enough, they may terminate the call, but they very seldom remove you from any dialler or database under their control. If anything they'll up the frequency of calls to you (I know I would if I was being paid a bowl of rice a week and fed crud from some random who thought he was smarter than me).

If you don't want to go down Bronto's route :) You could purchase a standard phone which you can allocate certain ring-tones to friends and family. That way you can choose to ignore calls from unknown numbers.

Your Service Provider (SP) will have a Nuisance Calls process, but more often that not it does precious little to stop the calls.

I would suggest using the following websites to identify which SP the offending call originates from:

UK Phone Info
Magenta


These sites are pretty accurate and should identify the range-holder responsible for the number making the calls.

I would suggest taking a note of the following and presenting the info to the responsible SP:

At least 3 x calls with times and dates of when the calls took place (this is time sensitive, as it can result in either detailed (<10 days) or basic (<30 days) traces being carried out)
Number receiving the calls
Number making the calls
Nature of calls e.g. PPI, accident claims, silent, scam, phishing,vishing etc.

Calls of an obscene, malicious, or threatening nature should be reported to your local Police in order that thay can take the issue up with their SPoC (Single Point of Contact) and liase directly with the SP responsible.

Another option is to ditch your landline. I pay for mine, but it hasn't has a device connected to it for a few years (I pay for it, and in doing so have procured a pretty sweet deal for a stable 150+ mbps to t'internet.

Please note that a lot of the phishing calls I see are from offshore via Skype, but now that Skype have been taken over by Micro$haft, it makes it easier to deal with calls of a similar nature.

Hope this helped...if so, giumme a thumbs down :)
 
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