Help with harassing calls

deepindebtor

We are getting calls from a number and they will not stop calling.

It appears to be some call centre that is looking to find someone. The person they have asked for we have never heard of.

We STRUGGLE to make out anything they are saying as their accent is VERY strong, to be clear these calls are being made to my mother who is hard of hearing, registered deaf.

She tries hard to understand, she tries hard to make them talk slower and understand her but gets nowhere.

Only once did she speak to a man that did stop speaking at high speed in a thick accent and said sorry, we expected the calls then to stop...they havent. Same thing started the next day again.

We cannot trace the number, if it is called it comes back unobtainable.

She is with TalkTalk, I have written to them and explained the situation and all they have offered is to put a last number barred service on the line for a charge of almost £4 a month.

I feel it is grossly unfair for an elderly woman to be harassed in this way and I also feel it is grossly unfair to then ask for money to stop the calls.

Why should she pay to stop being harassed?

Why can't TalkTalk do something more, they are only interested in an easy answer that makes them money.

What can we do here? It is really upsetting my mother, she has a heart condition and I am very worried.

TalkTalk were no help at all.

Where do I go from here?

Mrs_Arcanum

Best bet is to register with http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/what/ This should stop all unwanted marketing /sales calls within 28 days. This is a free service.

Meanwhile say very clearly to the caller that you do not want these calls and to not call again or you will complain to the information commissioner http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public.aspx

Heinz

It sounds like 1471 is giving you a number (albeit one which is unobtainable when dialled).

Why not connect a cheap CLI device and tell your mother to pick up and hang up in one continuous motion when calls from that number appear.

deepindebtor

a) We do not know what kind of call it is, and she is already registered.

b) This is UPSETTING her. Asking her to ignore it, is not working.

She is getting wound up wondering why someone is trying to call her all the time. She isn't an internet connected 16 year old, she is a pensioner who finds this very difficult to accept. She is worked up wondering if she is in some kind of trouble.

The callers say that the call is urgent BUT ask for someone else. She tells them she is not this person. Then she cannot make the rest of their high speed mumbles out. She has asked to be put onto someone else, but that never happens.

Its is VERY distressing.

Heinz

The sort of device I suggested is hardly a computer! She'd just have to read the number on the screen and, if it was the troublesome one, pick up and immediately hang up.

deepindebtor

What YOU dont understand is that she has CLI, that is NOT the issue.

She gets these calls and wonders WHY they are calling and this is upsetting her.

She then tries to answer these calls and cannot understand the people and it just makes her worse.

She is an old lady, telling her not to do this doesnt work.

We are going to have the calls traced now and report them to the police. Maybe a little over the top but as no one has offered a better solution, that is the only option available.

This IS harassment, why should ANYONE have to put up with that.

Mrs_Arcanum

deepindebtor wrote: »

a) We do not know what kind of call it is, and she is already registered.

b) This is UPSETTING her. Asking her to ignore it, is not working.

She is getting wound up wondering why someone is trying to call her all the time. She isn't an internet connected 16 year old, she is a pensioner who finds this very difficult to accept. She is worked up wondering if she is in some kind of trouble.

The callers say that the call is urgent BUT ask for someone else. She tells them she is not this person. Then she cannot make the rest of their high speed mumbles out. She has asked to be put onto someone else, but that never happens.

Its is VERY distressing.

Definitely try the information commissioner or can you temporarily get call barring on the line & bar any incoming calls from number withheld.

This sounds like harassment or an overseas caller who continually miss dials/has been given the wrong number. Though not strictly legal she could try blowing a whistle down the phone whenever she gets these calls.

spike7451

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

Best bet is to register with http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/what/ This should stop all unwanted marketing /sales calls within 28 days. This is a free service.

Meanwhile say very clearly to the caller that you do not want these calls and to not call again or you will complain to the information commissioner http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public.aspx

Doesn't work.Over the past three day's I've been receiving on average six calls to my landline & mobile,both registered with the TPS, as well as silent calls,unintelligible calls & even one recorded one telling me I'd won a free trip to Florida, from 'financial institutions,debt companies & loan companies, all because I applied for my Experian credit report or a Vanquish credit card,I've been told by those that phoned me,it's both.

I've asked the companies to remove me from the database & have then been called back,by them,within minutes of me hanging up. I got a call less than 10 minutes ago to my home phone & within 30 seconds of me hanging up,another to my mobile from a different lot.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3083428

Mrs_Arcanum

spike7451 wrote: »

Doesn't work.Over the past three day's I've been receiving on average six calls to my landline & mobile,both registered with the TPS, as well as silent calls,unintelligible calls & even one recorded one telling me I'd won a free trip to Florida, from 'financial institutions,debt companies & loan companies, all because I applied for my Experian credit report or a Vanquish credit card,I've been told by those that phoned me,it's both.

I've asked the companies to remove me from the database & have then been called back,by them,within minutes of me hanging up. I got a call less than 10 minutes ago to my home phone & within 30 seconds of me hanging up,another to my mobile from a different lot.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3083428

Overseas calls cannot be stopped by TPS and non sales marketing/research calls are "supposedly" still allowed (think this should also be part of the TPS). Would firmly & politely tell them not to call again.


Other than that contact the information commissioner as UK companies should not call.

Have been TPS registered for years and do not get anything but those peculiar recorded ones which I hang up straight away.

deepindebtor

She has firmly and politely told them around 10 times not to call back and she doesn't know who the person is they say. All she gets is some foreign woman firing off words in bad english with a thick accent and needless to say as she is registered deaf, she cannot make out what this woman says.

spike7451

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

Overseas calls cannot be stopped by TPS and non sales marketing/research calls are "supposedly" still allowed (think this should also be part of the TPS). Would firmly & politely tell them not to call again.


Other than that contact the information commissioner as UK companies should not call.

Have been TPS registered for years and do not get anything but those peculiar recorded ones which I hang up straight away.

The majority of the calls I've been getting are from a UK number,not overseas.I know the TPS cannot stop international calls.These are calls from people trying to sell me something.
Anyway,complaint against the last one just been submitted to the TPS.