Calls From 08443762820

iwontgivein

We have had call from this number several times over the last couple of days.

Actual 'human' voice claims to be from 'Affinity', promoting a Government 'gift of £100 a year towards' - you've guessed it - Solar Power.

They get everywhere.

Sadly TPS is a complete waste of time with these people.

Timalay

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

I am still TPS registered but to rub salt into it, their latest crafty game is to call you but only for a couple of rings then rely upon you being daft enough to re-call them back.

Call them back (with 141), don't say anything after they answer for 5 - 10 secs (however long you want), and then hang up. Waste their time, also ties up an agent. Give them a taste of their own medicine.

SpammyTheSpammer

don't be silly - this is expensive and they get the cash for your call!

ntk_2

Hi everyone,
I normally don't get involved in forums, but this time I had to.
I used to work for ARE and I must tell you a few things:

1. They never call TPS number on purpose. These numbers should be removed from the database and never called. Of course some numbers don't get filtered properly and they need to remove them manually, after speaking to the land line owner. When calling, they never know if a number is or isn't TPS registered.
2. The automatic dialler dials the numbers, not the people. It hangs up automatically, if a call is unanswered within a specified time. The calling agent receives an "active phone call" signal the moment when the phone is answered. If the call is not answered, then none of the agents knows it was being dialled by the system. Nobody is calling house owners just to make them angry and hang up. What a waste of time.
3. Nobody except of your land line telephone provider gets paid, if you call the 0844... number back.
4. If you pick up a phone and it's quiet, it means that the call wasn't assigned to any of the agents yet. What happened - the number is dialled by the automatic dialler, you answer, the phone call becomes "live" and gets transferred to any free agent. Normally the agent is on the other side of the line by the time you say hello, and sometimes it may take a few seconds. But no, nobody is calling you in order to sit there quietly and listen to you saying "hellooo helloo?". Again, it's all automated. If no agent is available to speak within 15-20 seconds, then yes, the system finishes a call, without a human action.
5. If you just hang up without saying anything, you will be certainly called again. However, if you say "please don't call this number ever again" or "I am not interested in solar energy at all, please don't call me again" - guess what, you will not be contacted any more.
6. At the end of the day working in an outbound call centre is a job. People do it to pay their bills etc. It feels nice if you get to speak to a polite person. I must tell you that people they call can be really terrible. This is a really though, target-related job. There is a high rotation in such environment, which is stressful enough. If you keep missing your target, nobody will keep you there for long. Seriously, I think that having to call hundreds people every day is more stressful and frustrating that answering a few phone calls every now and then. I appreciate these calls are annoying, but trust me it's not a pleasure to make them either. People work there to pay their bills, so they don't have to line up in front of Job Centre or claim unemployment benefits from your taxes.

Try to imagine - these are people calling you, trying to make a living for 6.50 per hour. There is always another side of the coin. Don't forget it next time you speak to one of these guys.

Cheers

SpammyTheSpammer

"People do it to pay their bills "

Remember, if you come home and find someone burgling your home, you must be nice to them as they are just doing their job and need the money.

fozmcfc

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

"People do it to pay their bills "

Remember, if you come home and find someone burgling your home, you must be nice to them as they are just doing their job and need the money.

Ridiculous and not the same AT ALL.

The only part of ntk's post, that I think is questionable is no 5. I would imagine if someone is downright rude, not much effort would be made to remove that persons number.

I like most get frustrated with these type of calls, but at the end of it all, it's a job, not a great one pay or working condition wise and certainly a thankless one as well.

I know someone who took up this sort of job, because they were desperate for any job. They quit very quickly, because they weren't able to cope with being told to f off several times a day.

But at least the persons that do the job are out there trying to earn a living, rather than scrounging around on the dole.

SpammyTheSpammer

These people use automated random calling systems. These are not using the TPS lists of numbers that should not be called, they simply call random numbers in a certain geographical area at any hour of the day. Requests that you are not called again are invariably ignored as the callers have no method of updating the automated systems.
Firms that do this should be closed down, just as SAS were closed down who used the same systems and abused TPS/ICO ruling consistently.

vikingaero

ntk wrote: »

6. At the end of the day working in an outbound call centre is a job. People do it to pay their bills etc. It feels nice if you get to speak to a polite person. I must tell you that people they call can be really terrible. This is a really though, target-related job. There is a high rotation in such environment, which is stressful enough. If you keep missing your target, nobody will keep you there for long. Seriously, I think that having to call hundreds people every day is more stressful and frustrating that answering a few phone calls every now and then. I appreciate these calls are annoying, but trust me it's not a pleasure to make them either. People work there to pay their bills, so they don't have to line up in front of Job Centre or claim unemployment benefits from your taxes.

Try to imagine - these are people calling you, trying to make a living for 6.50 per hour. There is always another side of the coin. Don't forget it next time you speak to one of these guys.

Cheers

One of my friends is a JCP Advisor and she hates putting people forward for these "non jobs" because they invariably only last a few weeks, and mess up peoples benefit claims and in the long term end up getting them further and further into debt.

Whilst it may be a job or a living, it is a job that involves intruding on peoples privacy and the vast majority of people do not want to be called - I've highlighted the most important part for you.

You've explained how your system can miss TPS registered people, you forget to mention that loads of scam callers do not use TPS nor are international call centres bound by it.

You think that your job is more important than impacting on ppeoples lives. Most people have a landline to receive calls from people they know - schools, hospital appointments, friends, family. They don't want sales calls.

Think about who you impact:

The nightworker who needs to sleep during the day. Maybe he/she is a night doctor and could be the one operating on you or your family?

The parent who is feeding/playing/spending time with their child and your crud call pulls them away on the pretext that it is important. No one minds leaving a child if a friend or family calls. We do mind if it is a non call.

The homeworker who is working from home earning money to keep a roof over his head. In interrupting him/her you are effectively saying that you are more important than them.

Let's not forget that call centre staff are often under pressure not to remove numbers from lists so that the list can be sold on to the next chump operation.

SpammyTheSpammer

I just wanted to add that it is certainly the case that people who are scammed into working for these dodgy cold-calling operations are being exploited.

However, due to the amount of trouble that they cause people who have attempted to opt-out of being cold called by subscribing to TPS etc, the people being called feel rightly offended that their time has been wasted and feel the need to make this plain by making their opinions strongly felt to the caller.

Personally I was called about multiple times by SAS FIRE AND SECURITY. This was infuriating for me as my daughter was ill at the time and I kept thinking that it may a doctor calling about her. Each time I pointed out that I was TPS registered I was fed a pack of lies by the cold-callers. I asked for no more calls and just got more. That is why I started the original SAS thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2085601

In that thread, a number of ex-SAS staff posted similar comments to that of "ntk", spouting the lies told to them by their dodgy, TPS-abusing, cold-calling, hooky-goods-shifting, old-age-pensioner scamming employers.

Yup, it's that time of the month again.....