please check my "stop unwanted calls guide"

knightstyle

OK, so I have started another thread as I didn't want to hijack the original one where I got the info from.
I have done a guide to go into our Church mag, this needs to be simple as many are old, not internet savy etc. This is what I have come up with, your comments and corrections please, I will put my name and phone number at the end.
Thanks for looking,

Unwanted calls and how to stop them.

The first thing is to register with these these:
http://www.callblockingservice.co.uk/register.html
Tel......0845 070 0707
and
http://www.silentgard.com/register.aspx
Tel......0844 372 2325

Then ask these people to remove your number from their files:
Consumer Lifestyles
0800 0526871 is a message service, leave details and tell them to remove your number.
Or phone 01923 281700.!orFax: 01923 281723

If after a couple of weeks the calls persist complain to
OFCOM
Telephone
020 7981 3000
Website
https://www.ofcom.org.uk

And
The Direct Marketing Commission (DMA)
Telephone
020 7291 3350
Website
https://www.dmcommission.com

fluffnutter

I've never heard of either of those number registration services and the second one looks well dodgy. Why aren't you directing people to the telephone preference service (TPS)? (http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html)

TPS is fairly toothless, but it's a start. You could also advise people to go ex-directory. There's not much point removing your number from lists if it's readily available in the phone book and on directory enquiries.

The most important thing though, IMO, is to be VERY careful about giving your number out. For example, there's no reason why companies need your phone number if you've given them some other way to contact you like an email or home address. Be particularly careful about insurance comparison websites - these are notorious for sharing data. Just one instance of including your number on one of these sites and you'll be inundated with calls and texts trying to sell you insurance for ever.

Be very, very careful about opt out/opt in boxes. Read them carefully - some you have to tick and some you have to untick, even within the same form or webpage.

And it's not OFCOM you should complain to - they regulate telecommunications companies. If you're getting calls from a company that doesn't have your permission to call then you should complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) not OFCOM. NB. This doesn't protect you from overseas calls.

Mylo_The_Moggy

I've just had some fun with a cold-caller! :rotfl:

Asked if I'd had a car accident within the last 3 years, so I said yes but I died. They carried on asking if I'd claimed compensation, to which I replied no cos I'm dead!!!!! Thick or what??!

My husband looked at me daft when I was "chatting" away lol.

Would love to have kept them hanging on for ages just to waste their time! :T:T

shaun_from_Africa

fluffnutter wrote: »

I've never heard of either of those number registration services and the second one looks well dodgy.

The service that you are referring to doesn't give any company details so that particular one could just as easily be a harvesting website to get hold of people's details for further telephone cold calling lists.

Herongull

Why not tell them about these helpful guides produced by Ofcom:

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/files/2012/10/A-quick-guide-to-nuisance-calls-and-texts.pdf

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/files/2012/09/all-guides-small.pdf

And steer them away from dodgy "call blocking/registering" sites (other than TPS). Dodgy sites may sell on the personal data to nuisance callers/spammers and so registering may increase the number of nuisance calls.

If people are swamped with nuisance calls consider buying a call screener such as Truecall (not cheap but very effective in keeping the pests away).

Coopdivi

Call Blocking Service's website was registered less than seven weeks ago which is strange because one of the testimonials says she's been registered with the site for two months.

http://whois.domaintools.com/callblockingservice.co.uk

The contact address on the website is just a forwarding address. There doesn't appear to be a phone number....

Silentguard has no contact address. They are selling a fairly useless call blocker for £60. Apparently callers get a recorded message telling them to press '5' if they are personal callers. That'll probably stop auto-diallers but not much else.

The Direct Marketing Commission is a trade body which investigates complaints, mostly against its own members. It appears to be a pretty toothless organisation. According to their website they received 102 complaints between January and April this year but only 26 of those were made by consumers. They don't say how many were upheld but they did uphold a complaint against The UK Data Company in May. Unfortunately this organisation isn't a member of the DMA, so it was a pretty pointless ruling really.

http://www.dmcommission.com/adjudications/list-of-adjudications/

I don't want to be rude to you knightstyle, but you really need to properly research your information before posting it in the public domain.

knightstyle

Ehanks, that is whay I was looking for.
So now I know what not to put, what should I put as well as TPS and Consumer Lifestyles?

shaun_from_Africa

Is it only unwanted telephone calls you are advising on?

If not, it would also be worth letting people know about the Mailing preference service (MPS). This is the postal equivilent of the TPS.
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/

wantmemoney

http://www.callblockingservice.co.uk/terms.html

Call Blocking Service

Terms & Conditions

We offer a free service level via our online form and we may offer alternative packages which may be more effective at nuisance call prevention. Package costs range from FREE up to £42.62 depending on type and volume of calls. You advisor will provide more information about these alternative packages when they call you to verify your details. You are under NO obligation to proceed with this.

apart from your details ending up on another data base. I suspect they offer no service apart from signing you up to the already free TPS.

Kite2010

The best way to stop unwanted calls is to invest in a system like Tru-Call

Registering with the TPS does reduce the number of UK cold-callers, but does nothing to reduce the international callers, both from a list or from automatic dialers

Tech101

Consumer Lifestyles look like they might not co-operate according to this:http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?p=63935903

The other two, callblockingservice.co.uk and silent guard.com, both non-official, seem to offer cast iron ways of being included on unknown databases.

The OP clearly means well but perhaps didn't recognise the questionable nature of these services.